Synopsis

Welcome to a conversation between two old friends. Welcome to a real conversation about the things that divide and unite all of us: our memories, our identities, our beliefs, our choices.

Craig Detweiler and John Marks have known each other for twenty-five years. When they roomed together as sophomores at Davidson College, they were devout Christians. It was Craig's first year in the faith, John's last. After college, they parted ways, and when they met again, years later, they never talked about what happened... until now...

Their conversation starts as a bull session between pals and becomes a story about how people make friends, and how they lose them; how people change, how they grow, and how they deal with the big stuff: death, sex, the meaning of life, God. The conversation between Craig and John captures in all its intimacy and difficulty a one on one reckoning between two people who want to understand each other but won't compromise their beliefs.

At a time when the country is ever more divided over questions of faith and doubt, welcome to a new way of talking... welcome to a new territory of the heart. Welcome to a Purple State of Mind.

Directors' Statement

According to Wikipedia, conversation is "communication by two or more people, or sometimes with one's self, often on a particular topic. Conversations are the ideal form of communication in some respects, since they allow people with different views of a topic to learn from each other. A speech, on the other hand, is an oral presentation by one person directed at a group."

That nails it. We've become a nation of speech-makers. Everyone has their bullet points. Everyone takes aim. Left versus right. Gay versus straight. Atheist versus believer. The shrapnel has caught all of us in the crossfire, and we struggle to respond like soldiers; we fire back, but our own guns fail us. As a person of faith, Craig is troubled by the perception of Christians as judgmental and hypocritical. How could Jesus, the great defender of the poor, the hungry and the hurting have been turned into a hater? As a reporter in the Balkans, John witnessed the process by which religious and ethnic identity drives division. He's unnerved by the potential for a war of words to become something far worse.

Purple State of Mind, our movie, is an 80-minute effort to bridge the cultural gap, to push past politics, and wade into the middle ground where most people live. Purple State, the web experience, extends that effort out into the homes, dorm rooms, churches, offices and playing fields where people are struggling to have their own conversations. In a world of increasing tension, we hope Purple State of Mind offers an alternative--a warm, humorous, genuine conversation that at the same time pulls no punches.

We didn't start with a plan, just a mutual desire to find some common ground despite our differences. We had four conversations in four states over the course of one year. We started at a polite distance, before we plunged into our past, and faced our genuine disagreements. Those haven't gone away. But we've renewed our respect for one another and won a hard understanding of our differences. Making Purple State of Mind was an act of hope, but it's only the beginning.

We want to serve as stand-ins for friends and family around the world who desperately need to talk. May the conclusion of our film spark conversations that continue long after the credits roll.

Craig Detweiler and John Marks