The Ministry of Motion Pictures Podcast

How do you survive losing your lead actor half way through a production, in a difficult location, with half your production budget spent, and it's your own money, AND it's your debut film? This is what Douglas James Vail, and his screenwriter Reed Lackey, are here to tell us about on their production of 40: The Temptation of Christ, which released last week.

This was only the beginning of the challenges they would face. One of the most important lessons to learn from these men of faith, is that, when crises arise that threaten the project itself, we can let our challenges make us bitter and give up, or we can face the setbacks as God's opportunities, and move forward with grace, grit and hard work. Doug and Reed are as passionate about their film as the lessons God taught them in the trenches running a challenging production.

My guests are the filmmakers behind 40: The Temptation of Christ, which will release tomorrow. Tuesday April 8th. This Douglas James Vail's directorial debut, and he joins me with the screenwriter, Reed Lackey.

Very often, the production behind the film is as dramatic and interesting as the film itself. It can also be very instructive. Making an independent film is no easy task, whether Christian or not. They attempted to crowdfund it's budget -- but it was unsuccessful. They would have to finance the film themselves.

This was only the beginning of the challenges they would face. One of the most important lessons to learn from these men of faith, is that, when crises arise that threaten the project itself, we can let our challenges make us bitter and give up, or we can face the setbacks with grace and hard work. Doug and Reed are as passionate about their film as the lessons they learned in the trenches about running a troubled production with grace and dignity.

It's back to film history class today as we travel east to look at the third largest movie industry in the world. It's a cinematic culture which produced one of my favorite film directors, Wong Kar-Wai, and that is the HONG KONG CINEMA. Our guide into this cinematic world has written numerous books on the larger Asian film industry and teaches it at Lancaster University in the UK. He's been with us before -- his name is Dr. Gary Bettinson.

Indie Film Hustler Alex Ferrari is with me again in part 2 of my interview with him. In this episode we talk about his new bookThe Filmtrepreneur -- which you need to get into your hands. The Filmtrepreneur is a detailed, and well organized, business plan for filmmakers to survive and thrive independently. There's a wealth of hard won information packed into these pages.

My guest in this episode is not a faith-based filmmaker, but he is an independent filmmaking force -- a hustler (as he calls himself). He runs a highly respected indie film website called INDY FILM HUSTLE, which I have been following for many years. He recently launched an indie film streaming service called IFHTV, and he makes independent films, his latest was shot during the Sundance film festival and released this past January called On The Corner of Ego and Desire.

If ever there was a time for Christian filmmakers to cultivate a fierce independent filmmaking spirit -- it's now. And one of the most accessible, and generous indie filmmakers who is marching in advance of the frontlines of contemporary filmmaking, showing us what to do and what not to do, is my guest -- a man who defines the hustle of indie filmmaking -- his name is Alex Ferrari.

Dallas Jenkins is the director behind The Chosen, an episodic series on the life of Christ as told through the eyes of others, namely, the "chosen." The series recently finished 8 episodes for the first season, and Dallas and his team are beginning work on season 2. The Chosen is self-distributed outside of the conventional channels. It's free to watch on The Chosen app, with a pay it forward plan to finance it. Not only is it a unique series, it is forging a unique distribution model, and perhaps a model that will become more normal in the coming years.

Tim Keesee is the executive producer, and host, of the documentary series of videos Dispatches from the Front. In this ever growing series, Tim takes us on a tour to visit pastors and congregations of churches throughout the world in gospel-deprived regions. Tim talks about how the series of videos got started and what he and his filmmaking partner, Peter Hansen, have planned for the future.

Dr. Gary Bettinson, a lecturer in film studies from Lancaster University in the UK is with me to talk about an era of film history that is often overlooked, especially by someone like me because -- this the era of cinema I grew up in. It's called the New Hollywood Cinema, and stretches from the late 60's into the 70's. These were the days before the age of the blockbuster, and it's a very interesting period that made significant contributions to the history of cinema. You might consider it to be the American response to the French New Wave. The key directors of the period include Sidney Lumet, Richard Donner, Arthur Penn, Martin Scorsese, Hal Ashby, Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polanski, Steven Spielberg, and even George Lucas.

My guests in this episode are the filmmaking duo of Rafael Kalamat and Jason Barbeck. Both are actors, writers, directors and producers. Together they formed a production company called The Reel Deal Guys and produced their first feature film, Adam's Testament. Rafael and Jason are also the ORGANIZERS of the Canadian International Faith and Family Film Festival, known as CIFF, which I spoke with them about in the previous episode.

In this episode Rafael and Jason talk about the realities of producing films for the Christian marketplace. In spite of the struggles, these two filmmakers face the challenges with joy and expectation.

At only 4-years-old, The Canadian International Faith & Family Film Festival is fast becoming a significant player among Christian film festivals, and inside of Canada, it is the one to attend. It's held every Fall in Toronto on the coat tails of TIFF (The Toronto Film Festival.)

The festival is the work of two Christian filmmakers, Rafael Kalamat and Jason Barbeck. They are my guests on this episode.