Independent Christian Film Festival To Be Held In San Antonio
The Texas-based group Vision Forum Ministries will be hosting the first annual San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF) and Jubilee Awards. The event will take place from November 11th to the 13th and will be held at the recently expanded 1.3 million square foot Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center.
The festival will feature a series of shorts by a, “new generation of maverick Christians,” as quoted by President of Vision, Doug Philips, as well as a number of workshops and guest speakers covering a broad range of film making topics that center on, “a commitment to challenge our culture while taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
A special feature that will open the event will be the world-premier screening of writer, director, and producer, Ron Maxwell’s Civil War epic, Gods and Generals - the director’s cut. The film has gained a strong independent following since its release in March 2003, although it achieved limited success while in theatres.
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Philips comments on the reasons and visions for the event:
"America is discontent with Hollywood's negative monopoly stranglehold on film and culture. The intense hatred by Hollywood elites for Christianity and the value system which it embodies has created a rift in American culture, and profoundly damaged the American family. We intend to respond, not by cursing the darkness, but by lighting a candle."
"We seek to motivate the next generation of filmmakers to raise a presuppositionally Christ-honoring standard, and to develop alternative vehicles outside the Hollywood machine for producing and distributing films which will build, bless, and benefit the American family."
"We believe the Hollywood monopoly is about to be broken," says Phillips. "Thanks to the development of inexpensive and readily accessible technologies, the success of new channels for distributing films, and the rise of a new generation of entrepreneurial and creative Christian filmmakers, there never has been a better time for Christians to influence their culture for Christ."
"By providing a platform for Christians to present their art, and by offering appropriate recognition for excellence in Christian film production, we hope to encourage this movement for the glory of God."
The Jubilee Awards will be presented in the following categories for short films: best narrative, best documentary, best political, and best creation film. A grand prize of $10,000 will go to the best film of the festival.
