A New Life has been invited to Manila’s Gideon’s Flame Christian Film Festival. I was invited to speak briefly before the screening. Here is what I said:
Thank-you for selecting “A New Life” for inclusion in your film festival.
When I was in film school I attended a book reading group at a local Baptist Church. We read a “God Story’ each week and discussed it. The discussions were fairly dull until we got to Mary Brown’s A New Life. Then the Christians divided on what we thought of the Christians in the story. Were they examples of bad Christians or good Christians? Did they succeed or fail? Was the heroine better or worse off after having encountered them? And finally, did they further the Kingdom of God or embarrass it?
I had been praying for an idea for my first film after graduation and thought maybe this one might provide the basis. The author herself agreed, and as the production demands fell into place I came to believe I had found a means to glorify God through film, my goal in venturing out of theater into the world of movie-making.
The film has both confirmed what non-Christians believe about Christians and again divided Christian viewers over the same questions as the short story.
How does a Christian filmmaker determine if his film is a success? Does he use the world’s standards audience popularity, invitations to film festivals, awards, box office receipts? Or is there another standard for Christian filmmakers to use?
In his book on acting for the camera, Patrick Tucker distinguishes the stage actor as playing for the numerous people in the auditorium, while the film actor plays for what he calls “An Audience of One” the camera lens.
I believe the Christian filmmaker, unlike the secular filmmaker, creates for his Audience of One. But in this case not for a camera lens, but for the Creator God Himself. I believe that a Christian filmmaker succeeds if God is glorified either within the film narrative itself or in the impact the film has on one who watches the film. It’s not just about the impact a film can have on its audience that could deem it a success as sometimes the advertising behind your film could prove to be important too. It does help to be a good DCP creator though as you will be able to arrange the sequence in any way you see fit so that your audience of one, or many has that instant impact.
Does the Kingdom of God break into the life of a character? Does the Kingdom of God break into the life of even a single viewer of the film? If so, I believe God is glorified and the Christian filmmaker has pleased his Audience of One. To paraphrase St. Paul, “so neither is he who films or he who shows the film anything, but only God, who makes His Kingdom grow through the film…. For it is God who worked in your film to will and act according to His divine purpose.”
May God bless you, may His Kingdom come, and may His will be done in all your film experiences.
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