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       About the film   RED STATE VOICES
           About  the Director  Neal Weiner

ABOUT THE FILM:

Distressed by the elections, a philosophy professor from blue Vermont goes south to question the ordinary people who voted Republican for “moral” reasons — the social conservatives on whom the election was said to turn. They were black and white, young and old, women and men, secular, Christian and Jewish (but no politicians and no academics).

“I asked them hard questions in the intimacy of their homes. We see their kitchens, their books, the pictures on their walls. In serious and often revealing discussion, they show themselves to be far more thoughtful, kind and open than they are often given credit for -- even when they are fervently religious.”

The film does not take sides on the issues discussed — abortion, gay marriage, tolerance, relativism, sexuality, religion/public life, etc. It remains almost entirely neutral. Its real question is: Who Are These People?

It is a philosophical and anthropological excursion into contemporary American life. Without becoming academic, its discussion of morality goes deeper than anything in the popular media.

Included in the “cast” are:

A Cherokee/Afro-American woman who graduated from Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, now a lobbyist in Richmond.

A Jewish New Yorker from a secular, leftist family who converted to orthodox Judaism and moved to Richmond.

An Afro-American male who attended Virginia Military institute, now a lawyer in Richmond.

A born-again, middle-aged woman who was once voted “Miss Faith Christian Academy” and is now an “abstinence presenter” in Culpeper, Virginia.

A young woman writer, one of whose parents was a holocaust survivor, the other an immigrant from India. She speaks about multi-culturalism and identity. Richmond, Virginia.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR NEAL WEINER:

By trade Neal is a philosophy professor at Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vermont, and has been been such since 1970. In that capacity he has written: The Harmony of the Soul (SUNY PRESS, 1993); The Articulation of Thought (Marlboro College Press, 1980); and Generosity and Truth (in preparation).

Neal is also a writer of: The Interstate Gourmet — 6 volumes (Simon and Schuster, 1982,3,4);  as well as various poems and stories in many small publications.

In 2003 Neal turned to film and has since made:

GENESIS — 2003. Played at the Hollywood Spiritual Film Festival, 2004, and to sellout crowds in Brattleboro, VT.

SNOW -- 2004.

LOVE’S LABOR -- 2004 Received honorable mention at Vermont International Film Festival, 2004

RED STATE VOICES -- completed June 2005. Won award from National Association of Film and Digital Media Artists. Scheduled for broadcast on Vermont Public Television, Dec. 22nd, 2006.