Finding Nektarios - Meet the Heroic Woman Allison Mitchell, the hidden hero DOCUMENTARY VIDEO

   

Greek-American woman named Allison Mitchell changed film history as we know it. Never heard of her? Neither had I but I had heard of The Passion of the Christ.
We all know the story, how the Hollywood studio system tried to block its worldwide release, the reason being that it was an independent film and as such should have only limited exposure –the Art House circuit, so to speak. Well, this wasn’t good enough for Allison so she rolled up her sleeves and went to work with two other women (who happened to be Roman Catholic) and put together a marketing plan that went around the studio system and guaranteed its massive, worldwide release. Part of their strategy was to go Christian groups and pre-sell tickets. Other tactics included going on the cable news networks (CNN, FOX, MSNBC). And then there was the internet. The rest, as they say, was history. The Passion became the highest-grossing independent film of all time. The receipts from it’s first five-days were edged out only by The Return of the King, a film which had had massive pre-publicity, had studio significant support, and was widely anticipated. The contrast between The Passion and The Return could not have been more stark.

Now, Allison has turned her attention to another project near and dear to her heart. The Making of Saint is a documentary about the life of St Nektarios of Aegina who died in 1920. It is the first of a series of documentaries which will explore the interface between faith and science, proposing a new synthesis as we go forward in the 21st century. A partner project will be a feature film titled Finding Nektarios, an action-adventure film which takes place in the present. Both are under the aegis of Nektarios Productions.

  

Why Nektarios Productions? Allison, like many people  has been devoted to St Nektarios of Aegina for a great part of her life. Like many others, she experienced first-hand the miraculous grace of this modern saint. His story, like that of Ss Seraphim of Sarov, John Maximovich, and Nikolai Velimirovich is one of martyric suffering and has timeless implications. In the first of the documentaries, first-hand stories of people whose lives were affected through the intercessions of this saint will be told. Today, as we see the collapse of secular materialism, the posthumous ministry of St Nektarios is even more timely and NP is on the cutting edge of crafting a narrative which will get the word out using multi-dimensional methods, including cinematic productions, e-books, and interactive media.