‘Ms. White Light,’ featuring Judith Light and Zach Spicer of Greencastle, releases globally

Greencastle product Zach Spicer (right) mingles with DePauw University associate professor Seth Friedman (left) of the Department of Communications and Theater, and former Greencastle High School teachers Maurice and Terri McKee in a question-and-answer session following the release of “The Good Catholic” in 2017. "Ms. White Light," in which Spicer serves as co-star and co-producer, is set for release Tuesday.

Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE

BLOOMINGTON -- Pigasus Pictures -- producers of Indiana feature film “The Good Catholic” starring Danny Glover and Greencastle’s own Zachary Spicer -- is announcing its second global release of a purely Indiana-made movie set for Oct. 6.

Written and directed by Paul Shoulberg, “Ms. White Light” was an “Official Selection” at the acclaimed 2019 SXSW Film Festival and an Audience Award and Italian Press winner at the Torino Film Festival.

“Ms. White Light” was produced by Greencastle native Spicer along with John Robert Armstrong and Gordon Strain.

It features an ensemble cast, including Roberta Colindrez (as Lex Cordova), Carson Meyer (Nora), Zachary Spicer (Spencer), John Ortiz (Gary Cordova) and Judith Light (Val). Light is remembered as the mom, Angela Bower, on the 1980s ABC sitcom “Who’s The Boss?”

“Ms. White Light” is the story of Lex Cordova, a woman with a unique ability to connect with the dying, but difficulty connecting with everyone else.

“It’s a film that takes death head-on,” producer John Armstrong says. “Rarely is the topic of dying the actual subject of a movie, people shy away from it. But this film, and Paul’s writing, gives us the words that we all wish we’d had when we needed them.”

But producer and film co-star Spicer, a 2002 Greencastle High School graduate, says, “Don’t let that fool you, this movie is funny! Yes, it really hits home, but you’ll laugh and leave this movie feeling hopeful and satisfied.”

The 37-year-old Spicer is the son of Sylvia Spicer, formerly of Greencastle, and grandson of the late Harold Spicer.

Pigasus Pictures has been hard at work since the release of “The Good Catholic” in 2017. “Ms. White Light” is the second of five films it has made. In addition to “The Good Catholic,” currently on Amazon Prime, “The Miseducation of Bindu” and “So Cold the River” will release in 2021. Pigasus is currently on set for its fifth film, which is not yet announced.

Pigasus also has started a non-profit company called Pigasus Institute where it runs a film and theater academy in Bloomington and yearly orchestrate Project Pigasus, its high school screenplay competition in which it will fully produce a short film with students and professionals working side by side.

“We’re all from Indiana,” Pigasus co-owner and scenic designer Gordon Strain said, “and like a lot of young people who want to work in our industry, we had to leave Indiana. So it’s amazing to have been able to come back home and do our work with the people we love in the place that we love.”

However, with no tax rebates or credits for film production in Indiana, like dozens of other states have, Indiana has fallen behind in the world of entertainment. But Armstrong says they are working on that as well, “Yes, there is great support for tax legislation favorable to filmmaking, and it’s grown exponentially over the last four years. The state government has started to understand that this is about job creation and economic growth, not Hollywood coming into town and upsetting the cart. I say it’s also about pride. We have amazing stories tell and amazing locations to showcase in Indiana. But when you’re not controlling the narrative, others control it for you. You get called a ‘flyover state’ and your people become caricatures in someone else’s story. It’s time to change that.”

As of Tuesday, “Ms. White Light” is available on all transactional streaming platforms.

Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, will carry the North American markets, with Glass House Distribution handling international.