Christian film festival debuts

A Christian film festival hoping to battle the “humanistic religious worldview” of Hollywood is set to open in San Antonio next week.

Scheduled for Nov. 11-13, the first annual San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and Jubilee Awards promises to showcase the work of Christian filmmakers who are seeking to counter the worldly influence of secular films. The event is being sponsored by Vision Forum Ministries, a Texas-based organization.

“This is a wonderful time to be a Christian engaged in the arts,” writes Vision Forum President Doug Phillips on the festival’s website. “The cultural antithesis between good and evil is ever widening. The enormous leadership vacuum within our culture has opened a world of opportunity for a new generation of maverick Christians to challenge the status quo presented by Hollywood.”

Hoping to showcase films that reflect a “distinctively and presuppositionally biblical worldview,” the festival’s mission includes encouraging the production of films that “inspire the highest ideals, the clearest and most noble biblical values, and which do so with a commitment to holiness.”

Another goal of the festival is to “facilitate the development of alternative and independent vehicles for producing and distributing films outside the Hollywood machine, which will build, bless and benefit the American family.”

The festival’s website reiterates several times the need to provide families an alternative to typical film offerings coming out of Hollywood, which is referred to as “Babylon Central.”

States the festival’s site: “The domination of the film industry by Christ-hating, family-denigrating elites, and the general absence of family-affirming, spiritually truthful media – at a time when the family is being redefined out of existence – has created a vacuum in our culture. Christians with a spirit of innovation who take the field and step up to the plate with courage and wisdom have an opportunity to fill this vacuum by communicating life, hope, and beauty from God’s perspective.”

Organizers of the San Antonio event mention that, unlike in the past, Christian filmmakers now have access to high-tech equipment for a reasonable price, making the production of wholesome films more economically feasible.

Independent filmmakers submitted film shorts (between five and 55 minutes in length) for the festival, with the best entries receiving recognition via the Jubilee Awards. The top award is $10,000. Categories of films include narrative and documentary, with special categories dubbed “political” and “creation.” The festival website has a listing of the semi-finalists for awards.

The event also includes workshops with a speakers list that includes Ron Maxwell, the director of “Gettysburg” and “Gods and Generals,” Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr., writer/director Geoffrey Botkin and academician Dr. George Grant.

A standard festival pass costs $125, and registration is available online.

Concluded Phillips: “We hope to see diverse and innovative films that fill us with joyous laughter for the glory of God, that make us rejoice in the goodness of Jehovah over His creation, that prepare us to be better warriors for Christ, that draw us closer to our Savior, and that give a Gospel message of hope to a dying generation.”

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