Hollywood honors faith, family films

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Some of Hollywood's brightest stars, TV personalities and movie executives turned out on the red carpet Friday evening, but not for the typical awards show.

Instead, these faces of entertainment came to the Universal City Hilton's Sierra Ballroom to celebrate the best family and faith-centered films of 2013 and to encourage new generations of scriptwriters to keep creating the kinds of stories that are even now transforming Hollywood … for the better.

The event marks the 22nd Annual Movieguide Awards, presented by Movieguide Founder and Chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission Dr. Ted Baehr, in association with the John Templeton Foundation.

Among those films and TV shows honored at the gala include award-winners "Frozen," "Grace Unplugged," "The Bible," "Duck Dynasty" and "Iron Man 3."

Check out this impressive collection of movies – including Movieguide award nominees "The Book of Eli," "October Baby" and "Courageous" – available in WND's own store.

Dr. Ted Baehr

Since the mid-1980s Baehr's Movieguide organization has been on a quest to completely transform the movie industry by revealing to Hollywood executives that positive-themed, faith and family-friendly films make significantly more money at the box office than their more salacious and often R-rated competitors.

The quest has been hugely successful, as each successive Movieguide awards gala has enabled Baehr to present Hollywood's power players with extensive studies proving America's audiences would much rather watch faith than filth on the silver screen.

And Hollywood, where money talks and box office receipts are king, has heard the message.

Baehr reports that in 1985 only 1 percent of the films made by Hollywood contained "positive, redemptive content," according to Movieguide's grading scale. But after more than 20 years of conclusive evidence that audiences back their desire for positive, faith-affirming and family-friendly films with box office bucks, now more than 65 percent of the movies made include "positive, redemptive" content and storylines.

Discover Dr. Ted Baehr's fascinating guide to the filmmaking industry, "How to Succeed in Hollywood (Without Losing Your Soul)" – autographed – at the WND SuperStore!

Jeff Holder, former head of ABC's Saturday morning children's TV schedule, explained what makes the Movieguide Awards so unique: "The Gala is about the [spiritually inspiring and exemplary] film clips and the speeches. … Many of the recipients give glory to God.

"What I really like about Movieguide is that we honor producers, directors, many of them Christians, quietly working behind the scenes and movies that may not make the Academy Awards," he continued. "We're honoring them because they do such redemptive work."

At the 2011 Movieguide awards, music and Hollywood icon Pat Boone stepped off the red carpet for just a moment to talk with WND about the significance and impact of the Movieguide awards over the years.

"I have been coming to these events for the past 15 years," Boone said. "Producers, directors, writers – they'll come here to get an award, and when they do, they see why they're getting an award and the kind of things that we're hungering for [in films]. Then they go back to their studios and they look for other projects that might merit an award for the same reason that they've gotten one, which is uplifting family, not denigrating the faith, not glamorizing degenerate behavior.

"And so it is a strong influence, and it's not just condemning the bad, it's awarding the good," Boone said. "So I think it's genius. I think it's God."

The full list of award nominees at the 22nd Annual Movieguide Awards are listed below in alphabetical order, with the winners in each category highlighted in bold:

The nominees for Best Family Film are:

"Black Nativity"
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2"
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Frozen" (2013)
"Grace Unplugged"
"Linsanity"
"Monsters University"
"Oz, The Great and Powerful"
"Turbo"

The nominees for Best Mature Audience Film are:

"42"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
"Iron Man 3"
"Jack the Giant Slayer"
"Man of Steel"
"Thor: The Dark World"
"The Tower"

In addition, Movieguide has created the $100,000 Epiphany Prizes for Inspiring Movies and TV. Supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the Epiphany Prizes honor "the best, most inspiring movie and television program of the previous year." The nominees in the movie category are:

"42"
"Black Nativity"
"Grace Unplugged"
"Man of Steel"
"The Tower"

The nominees for the television Epiphany Prize are:

"The Bible"
"Blue Bloods: Bad Blood"
"The Cross"
"Duck Dynasty: Till Duck Do Us Part"
"Last Man Standing: Back to School"

Movieguide's Faith & Freedom Awards are given to "the best, most inspiring movie and television program of the past year that promoted American, western values such as freedom of speech, religious freedom, property rights, the right to life, the rule of law, and personal responsibility." The movie nominees are:

"42"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
"Iron Man 3"
"Man of Steel"
"Turbo"

The television nominees for the Faith & Freedom Award are:

"Blue Bloods: Bad Blood"
"Christmas in Conway"
"Duck Dynasty: Till Duck Do Us Part"
"Last Man Standing: Back to School"
"Remember Sunday"
"Secret Millionaire: George & Kym Rapier: Oakridge, Oregon"

For the second year in a row, the awards gala celebrates America's free enterprise system with the $50,000 Friess Free Enterprise Prize for the best movie or television program promoting free enterprise. Supported by a grant from the Lynn & Foster Friess Family Foundation, the prize is awarded to the one movie or television program that, through "fine craftsmanship and inspiring storytelling, encourages an appreciation of free markets, ownership, and stewardship." The movie nominees, followed by the television nominees, are:

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Monsters University"
"Turbo"
"Christmas in Conway"
"Last Man Standing: Back to School"
"Remember Sunday"
"Secret Millionaire: George & Kym Rapier: Oakridge, Oregon"
"Shark Tank: Episode 4.20"

In addition, the Grace Awards honor individual actors for "the best, most inspiring performances expressing God's grace and love toward us as human beings." The movie nominees are:

Harrison Ford, for "42"
Forest Whittaker, for "Black Nativity"
A.J. Michalka, for "Grace Unplugged"
James Denton, for "Grace Unplugged"
Sandra Bullock, for "Gravity"
Henry Cavill, for "Man of Steel"
Russell Crowe, for "Man of Steel"

The television nominees for the Grace Award are:

Roma Downey, for "The Bible"
Diogo Morgado, for "The Bible"
Tim Allen, for "Last Man Standing: Back to School"
Willie Robertson, for "Last Man Standing: Back to School"
Billy Graham, for "The Cross"
Len Cariou, for "Blue Bloods: Bad Blood"

Supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the Kairos Prizes award $50,000 to the top three entries as it celebrates the best new screenwriters from around the world whose work "aims to greatly increase man's love or understanding of God."

Several Kairos Prize-winners through the years have seen their scripts go on to be produced as motion pictures.

This year's finalists are (in alphabetical order):

Ken Berry of West Melbourne, Fla., for "Giant Stride"
Rick Conti of Chelmsford, Mass., for "The Squatter"
Donald Driscoll of Plum, Penn., for "Showdown at Damascus"
Brian Faye of Spanish Fork, Utah, for "Jeremy"
Tony Gonzalez of Reno, Nev., for "The Piano Gospels"
Jeff Malphurs of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., for "Full Distance"
Connie O'Donahue of Beaverton, Ore., for "Keepsake"
Jeff Peabody of Federal Way, Wash., for "When Mountains Moved"
Kathryn F. Taylor of Cary, N.C., for "The Lion's Den"
Allen Wolf of Santa Monica, Calif., for "Hooked"

From left to right: Jeff Malphurs, Kathryn F. Taylor, Connie O'Donahue

In addition, the Chronos Prize is designed to encourage professional and established writers to create stories that are "compelling, entertaining, inspiring, spiritually uplifting, and increase man's love or understanding of God."

This year's finalists are (in alphabetical order):

Brian Bird and John Wierick of Dove Canyon, Calif., for "The Magnolia Passion"
Art D'Alessandro of Maitland, Fla., for "Miracle Boy"
Nathan Frankowski and Matt Chandler of Camarillo, Calif., for "Little Drummer Boy"
Matthew G. Hill and Landon Johnson of Anaheim, Calif., for "Burning at Both Ends"
Heather Hughes and Kate Wharton of Seattle, Wash., for "Merry Me"
Mark Nowrasteh of Austin, Texas, for "End of the Earth"
Brad Silverman of Lancaster, Calif., for "When Life Gives You Lemons"
Rusty Whitener and Ann Tatlock of Pulaski, Va., for "Promises to Keep"