The opinions expressed herein are those of Joan Sweeny, Producer of Follow the Prophet, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

When my partner at Red Road Productions, Robert Chimento, first gave me the script of  Follow the Prophet I couldn’t imagine that the story was based on truth – until I started reading the research…

Follow the Prophet is the story about a young girl escaping from a Polygamy cult; an edge of your seat thriller that explores how brainwashing is used to promote ritualistic underage sex offenses within polygamy cults where women and children are still living under the archaic rule that the man is the lord and master of all and must be obeyed without any further thought.

Our young leading character, Avery (played by ingénue Annie Burgstede) is coming of age and revolts the forced marriage to the self-proclaimed prophet.  At first she escapes the clutches of her father (David Conrad) and the prophet (Tom Noonan)  but then she finds out a younger girl will take her place and decides to expose the crimes of polygamy with the help of an army col. Jude  (Robert Chimento/Milk) and an ex-cult member and renegade Sheriff named Red (Diane Venora). Her decision costs a lot.

This is not Big Love, which homogenizes the experience of the victims of polygamy.  It’s a disturbing look at the emotional roller coaster ride of people who make a valiant fight against sex offenders who feel entitled by religious law to do whatever they want to in the name of God.

The father daughter theme both good and bad is explored.

We made this movie because we were outraged.
Originally the ending of the picture was much less hopeful than the final picture that will show at the Angelika Houston for the Theatrical debut on April 30.  During post production the self-proclaimed prophet of the fundamentalist church, Warren Steed Jeffs,  went was on the FBI’s most wanted list, was caught, extradited to Utah and convicted as an accomplice to the rape of a 14 year old. He was also indicted in Arizona for eight felony counts including sexual misconduct and incest.

Then the State of Texas who’s platform is strongly against sex offenders and pro child safety raided the Yearning for Zion ranch and 12 more men were indicted on felony charges of child sexual assault; Three have been convicted so far and the trials continue.

First and foremost we wanted to make a great picture… I think we achieved that. With the help of Bernard/Scura Productions we put together an outstanding and award winning cast and filmmakers.

There are some really powerful ladies involved in bringing this film to you;

Emmy Award winning Director Drew Ann Rosenberg, Laurie Allen, one of our Executive Producers was producer of “Banking on Heaven” a groundbreaking documentary about polygamy. Laurie is a national figure and was kidnapped and escaped from a polygamy cult in Mexico. According to Laurie “my life is a living testament to this story”.

Diane Venora plays Red, the renegade Sheriff; you will recognize her from her co-starring roles with Al Pacino in “Heat” and with Russell Crowe in “Insider”  –and her award winning performance in Clint Eastwood’s Bird.

Annie Burgstede, does a fantastic job playing Avery.

Follow the Prophet will receive the Remi Award at the Houston International Festival (WorldFest) in April – which represents artist Frederick Remington and the spirit of Texas and the American West.

At the heart of this picture is the message – join forces – take a stand –  you can make a difference.

I hope you will join us at the Angelika for our limited run which starts on Friday April 30.The evening performance will benefit Texas Center for the Missing coordinator of one of the largest and most successful Amber Alerts in the nation.

If not we will debut exclusively across North America on Video-on-Demand with Warner Brothers Digital Distribution at beginning of May.

To see the trailer go to the HYPERLINK here or join us on FACEBOOK for the Follow the Prophet movie fan site.

To donate to Texas Center for the Missing  or buy tickets for the opening night  Premiere at the Angelika Film Center, Houston, Texas go to: TCFTM.org