The Celestine Prophecy
(The Book That Raised Consciousness)

Is Now a Movie!
Q & A with James Redfield

What motivated you to make this movie?

James Redfield: Our foremost intent as we created this film was to make an entertaining movie that stayed true to the book -- or more accurately, that stayed true to the essence of the book. After all, a film is a different medium. Intended meanings, messages, have to be shown in the flow of human action; not merely discussed. There was no way to get all the conversations of the book into the cinematic version.

So we opted for making sure that our project captured the more holistic “feeling” that most people reported from the novel: one of being “awakened to the magic of life,” and made aware of those mysterious coincidences that bring forth messages and opportunities that seem “beyond chance” and “just what we need” to expand ourselves and live the lives we really want. The book reflected a new spiritual inclination of our time: to explore the deeper spiritual dimensions of this life. And we wanted the movie to reflect no less than that.

How can this film be used for healing, transformation and spiritual development?

James Redfield: We seem to have created a movie that has to be probed a bit; not just taken in one gulp. In that way perhaps it does capture the book and reflects what we all want at this moment in history: to look closer, to go deeper, and to discover a perspective on life that is no less miraculous than the fact that we exist in the first place.

We have begun to show the film to test audiences and we’re finding two things: one -- a huge majority stated that they would recommend the film to others; and two -- that they wanted to immediately see the movie again, reportedly because they knew more was hidden in the experience (something we were hoping for but had not consciously tried to create). When we showed the film twice to the same group, they confirmed that sentiment by reporting a rush of subtle connections that we couldn’t possibly take credit for and suggested to us that it would take at least three viewings to see it all.

Do you have any suggestions or guidelines for watching this movie?

James Redfield: Suspend your movie-going conventions. Immerse yourself into the essence of the movie; these archetypal invisibles glistening as music, landscape and people — that is how you will “get” the movie. Surrender to the “film” as soon as the room darkens and the first quote appears on the screen. Let the entire movie activate your soul, and immerse in it. Float downstream in its energy and synchronicities. Flow with it and don’t box it in with conventional movie-making logic. Though it doesn’t have the big budget special effects, it has what really matters and is most familiar and necessary to all of us.

It is a world-important message and energy that’s never made it to the Big Screen before; that’s never been transmitted through the Big Screen before. Because here is a striking case where the medium is not the message. Here the message is more important than the medium. And somewhere in the movie you have another realization — that you are the medium, and you can remember the message.

Who could benefit from watching “The Celestine Prophecy”?

James Redfield: This movie and phenomenon are here for a reason and each time you engage with it, you’ll know more and more clearly what that special reason is for you being here. You’ll gain a clearer sense of how to uniquely proceed and how to skillfully take action for the sake of a more positive evolution — for the good of the whole.

We hope millions will experience it. Not just to study it, which they probably will. Not just to appreciate it and savor it, which they will. But more importantly to be continuously activated and initiated by it; perhaps even transformed by it.

How is “The Celestine Prophecy” different from other movies?

James Redfield: We had to face the fact that the film had to be a different kind of parable from the book with a complicated but more global meaning; a kind of snapshot of the Celestine worldview that became ever more impactful with each subsequent viewing—but all laced within a story line that had a beginning, a middle, and an end, and moved along at a rate that moviegoers expect.

Turning the book into a movie posed a certain dilemma: the book contained numerous conversations about experiences the characters were having -- too many to be in a film. Hollywood was adamant. Adaptation of this book couldn’t be done. There were too many ideas, too many connections that existed at ever deeper levels of the subtext; too many long, winding dialogues that roamed here and there, only making sense in the last moments as the many drawstrings were pulled together.