Film has stem cell research at core

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Dr. Shelley Chawla is tired of watching his patients suffer.

And Chawla, a neurologist in Topeka, fervently believes that some of the suffering he sees while treating chronically ill patients could be eased by embryonic stem cell research, which has been delayed in the U.S. by political and religious opposition.

Two years ago, Chawla’s frustration prompted him to write a book that addresses the embryonic stem cell controversy through one fictional family’s struggles with the issue. The book led to a screenplay, which is to become a film called “Hope,” shot in the Kansas City area and New Delhi, India, last year.

“Hope” centers on a conservative U.S. senator who opposes embryonic stem cell research. That belief is tested when his son is left a quadriplegic after an ugly crime, and the senator faces intense pressure from his family to take him to India, where stem cell research offers hope. But the senator knows that course would likely cost him his constituents’ support.

“The point of the movie is to put the whole issue in a personal perspective,” Chawla said. “All of these people saying no [to the research]; what would they say if they need it some day?”

Though Chawla passionately supports the research, the movie leaves it uncertain whether the senator’s son is taken to India or to a rehabilitation clinic in the U.S.

Rich Ambler, of Ambler Films in Fairway, Kan., directed the U.S. leg of the story and said the ambiguous ending was important.

“The audience is going to be divided on whether they’re pro and con anyway, so why not leave it that way?” Ambler said. “Why hit them over the head and say this is how it must end?”

iDream Independent Pictures, based in London and Mumbai, India, is distributing the film. iDream specializes in independent films from India that have the potential to reach worldwide audiences, such as “Monsoon Wedding” and “Bend it Like Beckham.”

“Hope” was screened in early April at the MIPTV multimedia market in Cannes, France, where thousands of TV, film and digital media buyers search for independent films to support. It also had two screenings at the Cannes Film Festival sales market in May.

Chawla, 43, a native of India, based part of the story in that country because embryonic stem cell research is being conducted there and in other parts of the world, where he said Christian conservatives do not have as much political influence as they do in the U.S. Many of the investors in his film were Indian doctors, who helped raise about $500,000 for the film.