Indie Film Spotlight: A Long Road to Tao
Surfing, Taoism, and Grief: The Making of "A Long Road to Tao"
Tagline:
Become water!
Logline:
A Long Road to Tao is a tale of love, loss and higher understanding. A struggling, stuck writer finds himself shaken to learn that his best friend, who mysteriously disappeared from the pro-surfing tour years earlier, is gay and dying of AIDS. He immerses himself into his idol’s mystical philosophies of Taoism and Native American spirituality while getting “one last stoke” before facing death together. As one soul transcends towards heaven, the survivor is left full of inspiration, courage and empathy.
BTS Story:
A Long Road to Tao was inspired by the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Tao of Surfing; Finding Depth at Low Tide” and is based on a true story.
It took us over 20 years to make the film, we started in on a screenplay in 2000, then in 2002, we traveled into New Mexico as I was writing the sand surfing scenes. In 2006 we shot some b-roll footage for the film with Phil Pfeiffer (Dances with Wolves).
In 2013, we gave it a shot shooting the film and learned quite a lot about what we wanted and what we didn’t want. Life is a learning process. In 2022, we shot the entire feature film in New Mexico and California, 2023, edited the film and then 2024, showed the film at the Las Cruces International Film Festival where we won Audience Choice and continued with the film festivals into 2025 winning Grand Prize for Best Feature at the Marina Del Rey Film Festival in Los Angeles.
To take on a project of this magnitude takes not only guts, but it takes a compelling desire to see it through to completion. A film project is not a straight path. Even though Hollywood tells you that there are set rules on how to make a film, there actually aren’t any, at least not for independent filmmakers. For those who can work inside the gray area, this works fine because we define the rules ourselves.
It is interesting that this film has to do with Taoism because there is a natural Taoist path that one must take in order to successfully see a project like this through. There are obstacles everywhere, but your ability to successfully flow through these obstacles will ultimately determine your outcome. Through the years, we have learned to identify obstacles, and we have learned how to make strategic decisions so that the project continues moving forward.
My director Alex Carig and my wife Julie always wanted to make sure that the project never lost momentum, and always kept moving forward no matter what. In 2020, during the beginning of the Covid epidemic, Alex and I took the entire year to rewrite the screenplay, trimming it back, looking at every character arc, every word spoken, and tried to envision where every scene would be filmed.
2021 we got back in touch with professor Sherwin Lau from NMSU CMI (New Mexico State University / Creative Media Institute). Sherwin proposed creating a class of students to serve as film crew. They would get a credit on the film, class credit towards graduation, and an experience that would lead to a professional film career.
Early 2022, I got a bank line of credit, set up the A Long Road to Tao, LLC, filed the new screenplay with the Library of Congress, and registered all paperwork with the Santa Fe Film Office. Amy Lanasa the director of CMI was so extremely grateful to us for providing the students with this experience. Jennifer Schwalenberg who we knew from 2006, came on board as our casting director and mentored students who were interested in casting in Las Cruces.
Between Jennifer and the NMSU student casting crew, we ended up with a phenomenal cast that we never imagined could be Between Jennifer and the NMSU student casting crew, we ended up with a phenomenal cast that we never imagined could be so invested in the story both spiritually and emotionally. In October 2022, we began filming A Long Road to Tao in New Mexico.
We also decided to take as many film students out to California to complete the coastal filming just north of Santa Cruz. Through it all, we ran into all types of weather, had to problem solve every day, and make last minute changes to locations and to the script to further tighten the scenes. Through it all, I felt that the 20 years was worth the wait, working with the film students, seeing Alex direct, communicating with the actors that brought us to unbelievable places, and having Sherwin Lau as DP provide the tools, expertise, and creativity to make our vision become reality. - Michael A. Allen Producer/Co-Screenwriter/Surf Photographer
Director’s Note
Our goal with this film is to entertain, educate, and enlighten through a story that is both socially relevant and cause-driven. Not only do we have a strong emphasis on environmental awareness within this project, but we also aim to enrich the audience’s lives by encouraging them to evaluate what matters. This film follows the tradition of European independent cinema, where the focus is on storytelling that deeply engages viewers on an emotional, cognitive, and spiritual level. Ultimately, we hope this film uplifts humanity. - Alex T. Carig
Tech Specs
DURATION: 90 minutes • GENRE: Drama • PREMIERE: Las Cruces International Film Festival - Audience Choice Award • SHOOTING FORMAT: Anamorphic • ASPECT RATIO: 2:39:1
Bio: Michael Allen (Producer/Co-Screenwriter)
Michael Allen is a producer, co-screenwriter, and surf photographer with a Master’s degree in Philosophy and a Certificate in Asian Studies. Merging his passions for the ocean and the mind, he served as the West Coast Director of the Surfers Medical Association and authored the book Tao of Surfing; Finding Depth at Low Tide, which inspired the film.
Michael started his visual journey in his teens shooting Super-8 surf films. Today, he is building a reputation for his unique style of "healing art" photography, with recent exhibitions at the R. Blitzer Gallery in Santa Cruz
A Long Road to Tao is Available on Storietv
