One of the entries in my prayer journal is that God will raise up talented young (and older) people to help redeem the arts. By that I mean I’m asking our Creator to give us not more preachers and missionaries (although I ask for that, too), but strongly committed individuals who will use their writing, acting, singing, directing, coding, producing, designing, filming, lighting, animating, etc. talents for kingdom purposes. There are actually quite a few folks like that in Hollywood, Nashville and Silicon Valley. But judging by what often passes as suitable entertainment these days, we could use a whole lot more.
One person who agrees with that assessment is John David Ware, founder and director of an annual short film contest called the 168 Film Project. Launched in 2003, the competition gives teams a mere 168 hours (seven days) to write and produce a 10-minute short film on a Bible verse drawn randomly just before the contest begins. I spoke with John a few days ago and found out that 120 teams are expected to participate in this year’s contest (you have until May 13 to sign up). That’s huge growth in 10 years. Here’s a brief historical snapshot from their website:
At the first 168 Film Festival, thirteen films screened in Evans Chapel at Bel Air Presbyterian Church to a standing room only crowd. “I am sure that some of those folks came to see how bad these short films based on Bible verses would be,” said Ware, “But, they came and saw how good they were and it created a buzz in both churches and in the filmmaking community.” There were fifty-three entries the second year and in the first ten years, over 600 films have been screened, launching careers and changing lives all over the USA and in over 20 countries. “168” films have touched people in places as diverse as Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Russia, Azerbaijan, Japan, China and many others. We are excited to energize filmmakers to produce art that celebrates the truth of God’s Word.
To get an idea of what can be accomplished in a mere 168 hours (plus 10 days to edit), check out the 2011 video winner.
[View:http://youtu.be/paTDlC8Jqsk]
This year, partner EcoLight Studios (a Christian soup to nuts filmmaking/distribution company) has sweetened the pot, offering up to $1 million to the winning team. Now, those big bucks aren’t to be spent on a yacht stocked with caviar off the coast of Nassau, but will instead be given to the winners as seed money to write and produce a feature-length film. Talk about redeeming the arts!
If you’re captivated by this idea, you’ll want to check out a few more videos, such as this peek behind the scenes, and this humorous race to meet the strict 168 hour turn-in deadline.
Let’s all be praying for these filmmakers. Some are new to the craft. Some are longtime veterans. But all share a common passion—using the art of filmmaking to share God’s truth. And as a guy who reviews a lot of cruddy films each year, I’m excited about an American Idol-esque path for talented individuals to break into the difficult world of feature-film creation.
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