ABOUT US
The Beginnings:
INDIANA: A TRIBUTE
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In 1991, brothers Jim and John Hilgendorf were in Indiana for a few days, visiting relatives in their hometown of LaPorte, Indiana. They had always loved Indiana, and it was a beautiful few days. When they returned to Los Angeles, their residence at the time, they decided to make a film about Indiana. Neither one had any prior moviemaking experience. |
They bought a professional camera, and went out on the streets and started shooting to gain experience. After two weeks, they headed out to Indiana, and started filming. That first trip lasted a month. Much of the footage was bad, but they kept shooting and learning. They subsequently made three more trips back to Indiana, and over a year's time eventually logged over 10,000 miles around the State. They interviewed people wherever they went. Through trial and error, they learned filming, editing, wrote a script, and eventually put together a 63 minute video film they called INDIANA: A TRIBUTE. Almost immediately, the film received a very positive review in the Indianapolis Star newspaper, and very shortly afterwards 26 other newspapers around the State picked up the story, several with full-page spreads. The response from people was tremendous. They sold a lot of videos through the mail, and, in addition, received hundreds of heart-warming and encouraging letters from people all over the State and throughout the country. ST. PETERSBURG: A TRIBUTE
At this point, they were already thinking seriously of where they wanted to go with their film making. Their deepfelt desire, even then, was to somehow use their films to help create bridges of understanding between different cultures and peoples around the globe. About this time, David Prokop, their narrator, returned from a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he had been attending a conference. He was very struck with the city, and had also met a young girl there whom he had fallen in love with. He wanted to return to see her, and suggested they do their next film in St. Petersburg. They did some reading and research and decided: Why not? In 1992, Jim, John and David flew to Russia, and spent a month in St.Petersburg filming. During that month, they stayed with the family of the girl David had met. They found the Russian people to be wonderful, and the city extraordinary. It was the time when Communism was breaking up, and the transition was very difficult for the Russian people. Later that year, they finished their second film, ST. PETERSBURG: A TRIBUTE. (By the way, David's romance did not quite pan out; the girl married a Russian). The following year, 1993, they produced another shorter video on Los Angeles (parts of which later became incorporated into their film CALIFORNIA: A TRIBUTE); and returning to St. Petersburg with both the St. Petersburg and Los Angeles filmls translated into Russian, were able, through an extraordinary series of events, to have both films shown all over Russia on Russian television to an audience of about 80,000,000 people, as part of a friendship exchange between the two countries. MEXICO...CALIFORNIA...NEW ENGLAND...TUSCANY & UMBRIA...INDIA... Since then, the brothers have gone on to produce ten more highly-acclaimed films, which are now in homes, libraries and schools all across the country. In addition, they have produced videos for companies and organizations that are used in domestic and international marketing, training, and promotion. Jim has also written three books that have received wonderful reviews - LIFE & DEATH: A BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE, THE GREAT NEW EMERGING CIVILIZATION. and, most recently, THE NEW SUPERPOWER. For more information on other projects they have initiated, visit www.jimhilgendorf.org. THEIR NEXT STOP:
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