Apparition Hill
Seven strangers investigate one of the greatest supernatural mysteries in the world.
Interview with Director Sean Bloomfield
and Producer Cimela Kidonakis
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
We ourselves were fascinated by the stories of miracles coming out of a small town in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Other documentaries have been made about the alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary happening in Medjugorje, but they either have a very religious slant or an entirely skeptical one. We made Apparition Hill to be an objective, unbiased investigation into what is either a historic miracle or a major hoax. Millions of people have gone to Medjugorje and have claimed to experience spiritual phenomena or miraculous healings, and we wanted to find out if such claims are true. We held a video “casting call” open to anyone who had never been to Medjugorje before, and from the many entries we chose a diverse group of seven people: a young mother with stage 4 cancer, an atheist from England, a man suffering from ALS, a heroin addict and former felon, an atheist police officer, a father of nine who lost his wife to cancer, and a woman questioning her faith. We then filmed them before, during and after their trip to Medjugorje, and the results surprised even us.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The movie lets you become part of the journey. With such a diverse cast and enigmatic subject, the story immerses the audience in the phenomena of Medjugorje. More than that, however, Apparition Hill chronicles an unlikely story of love among people who might seem to have nothing in common. Along the way there’s introspection, humor, suspense, drama, sadness, and joy. In effect, the story has something for everyone.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
At its core, Apparition Hill is a story about life and death, and about the beauty of our common humanity. To highlight the theme of Apparition Hill, we begin the film with this lyric by the Flaming Lips:
Do you realize
that everyone you know
someday
will die?
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
The film is a documentary, so we had no idea what the “cast” would experience on their journey to Medjugorje. We just kept the cameras rolling. It was only when we began post-production that we had a clear vision of how their story played out in real life, and we set out to whittle 300+ hours of footage down to less than 2, while staying true to everything they experienced. After the entire cast watched the film and unanimously loved it, we knew we had done our job.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
It’s been truly amazing. The biggest testament to the film is how it has shown in over 300 theaters around the world simply through word-of-mouth. People who see the film don’t just walk away; they become advocates for it.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The feedback has surprised us the most when it comes from people who don’t normally watch films about miracles. When an atheist and a religious person can sit together in a theater and both come out smiling through their tears, it must mean something. Many people have even decided to make their own journeys to Medjugorje after seeing Apparition Hill.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Because of the intense reactions from audiences, we want as many people as possible to see Apparition Hill. Also, we would love to encourage other independent filmmakers and show them that a big budget or distribution deal is not always necessary for box office success. Hundreds of thousands of people are seeing our film, and we don’t even have a distributor. We owe that to our devoted grassroots fan base, and to the power of the story we captured.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
The film is getting so big that we are probably getting to a point when a distribution deal would be welcome. We also have a unique story to tell about making and promoting the film on a grassroots level that might be helpful for others, so we welcome all media inquiries.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We can’t ask for a bigger impact than we’ve already seen, but mostly we want more people to see the film. We feel it’s a story that will resonate with almost anyone, and a story that could potentially bring hope and peace to countless people… something that seems to be in short supply in our world today.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
It’s as simple a question as it is incendiary: Does God exist?
Would you like to add anything else?
As documentary filmmakers, you can have an idea about the story you want to share but what happened to us while making this film was unexpected and changed our lives. Making a “small” film as opposed to a big-budget one means that filmmakers must wear many hats, and we’ve all grown and learned new skills along the way. More than that, it’s been interesting to see how our small team of filmmakers bonded so deeply with the cast. We experienced just as much of an incredible journey as they did through this project, and we’re excited to see what the future holds for everyone involved. If you’d like to learn more about our film, check out our website www.ApparitionHill.org.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We shot a second film called Cross Mountain just two weeks after filming Apparition Hill. It’s a similar project which follows a group of young people to Medjugorje for the annual Youth Fest. We think we captured an equally powerful story, and we’re currently embarking on post-production.
Interview: November 2016
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Apparition Hill
Seven strangers investigate one of the greatest supernatural mysteries in the world.
Length: 1 hour, 55 minutes
Director: Sean Bloomfield
Producer: Cimela Kidonakis
About the writer, director and producer:
Filmmakers Sean Bloomfield and Cimela Kidonakis had not met in person until the first day of shooting Apparition Hill.
Sean is best known for directing films such as Apparition Hill, The Triumph, If Only We Had Listened, and others which explore the phenomena of miracles, apparitions, and spirituality. Sean is also a writer and novelist.
Cimela, who studied video production at the University of St. Thomas, had applied to the online contest to be in the cast of the film. When Sean discovered that she ran her own production company and saw some of her work, he invited her to be the co-filmmaker of Apparition Hill and they founded Stella Mar Films together. Cimela joined Sean as co-filmmaker of Apparition hill and journeyed to Medjugorje for the first time.
Key cast:
Documentary cast features Ben Wasiniak, Mark Swoboda, Peter Starr, Rich Vosler, Jill Mazowiecki, Holly Weller, Matt Weller, Ryan Becker, Mirjana Soldo, Miki Musa
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors): BUYERS, SALES AGENTS, DISTRIBUTORS
Funders: Most self-funded and crowdfunding
Made in association with: N/A
Release date: May 2016 private screenings/October 2016 box office