Drew Waters and Erin Bethea from New Life the movie (Photos by Michelle Reed)

WARSAW — “The most important thing about life — is to live it,” according to Benjamin Morton (Jonathan Patrick Moore) from New Life the movie, which premiered last night, May 26, at North Pointe Cinemas.

North Pointe rolled out the red carpet for the sneak peak of the movie New Life (Nouvelle Vie) five months before its official release on Oct. 28. Cast, crew and creators walked the carpet signing autographs and answering questions about the film.

Nickolaus Schnetzky, who plays young Ben said, “It was fun doing the movie” and “making new friends.” Schnetzky signed autographs and stole hearts before continuing down the red carpet into the theatre.

Devin Dawson, who played teen Ben, and Sophia Ntovas, who played young Ava, both talked of how inspirational the message of the movie was and “It really was a passionate project.”

When Drew Waters hit the red carpet he addressed the crowd telling everyone how much this movie meant to him and the message behind it. He thanked the community for making the project possible, especially Mary Louise Miller, “She believed in us, she believed in this story and she believed we needed to get this story out to touch people.”

Megan Dinse, teacher at the Warsaw Area Career Center, one of the extras from the restaurant scene, the wedding scene and the funeral scene said she loved working with Waters, “As a director, he was passionate about his work, but he was so kind with the “little people” like us extras.” She continued by saying, “His attitude really made this a positive experience.”

The locals that came to see the movie gave it a solid thumbs-up, and even one couple, Terry and Jane Taggart, from a small town in southern Ohio drove six hours to see the premiere. Jane Taggart said, “I loved it, it pulled the heartstrings.” She said even her husband liked it and, “He [Terry Taggart] doesn’t usually like movies with a love story.”

Jane Taggart mentioned how she has been following the movie on all social media platforms since its inception. She was excited when Waters recognized her and thanked her for coming and how it made her feel involved in a small way.

Earlier in the day during an interview with Waters and Erin Bethea, who is adult Ava in the movie said, “Without this town we could not have pulled it [the movie] off the way we did.”

Waters said he created this movie because he lost his grandfather to a broken heart, “He was my best friend and when he gave up on life. He gave up on a lot of people who still needed him in their lives and I was one of them.” He said this movie was a way to show “That life is worth living and there is hope after loss or in overcoming difficult circumstances; there’s new journeys.”

Waters said, “It doesn’t mean you have to forget completely.” He said if a person is going through a loss the journey can continue with the memory of that person and when overcoming a difficult circumstance you’re stronger on the other side.

Waters talked of the New Life Moment and how people could purchase a New Life bracelet from the Mud Love website to help support the movement. Bethea said, “We want to contribute to other people’s new lives.” Half of the profits from the bracelets go to Mud Love to help provide clean water for those countries without access. The other half of the profits are going toward a partnership with Show Hope, which is an adoption organization with the goal of selling enough of the bracelets to provide one family with a grant for adoption, “To provide one child with a new life, a new family,” according to Bethea.

As stated by Mr. Charles (Bill Cobbs) in the movie, “There’s always more pictures to be taken.”