Hollywood screenwriter David Weiss (The Smurfs, Shrek 2, All Dogs God to Heaven) gave the Keynote Talk at our Insight Festival New York Screenings event at the Skirball Auditorium of the New York University in March 2012.
David, who was also a member of the judging panel for our 2011 awards, gave an entertaining and challenging over view of his life story – including his journey from the Jewish faith through the Christian faith and back to his Jewish faith again, taking in his experiences of film school, writing for Hollywood.
The first Insight Festival Lecture was delivered on 3rd December 2011 in Manchester, England by acclaimed screen writer Frank Cottrell Boyce who chose to speak under the title ‘Special Effect: The joy and pain of having a counter cultural set of beliefs.’
Speaking as a practising Roman Catholic, and from his years of work on the UK media scene, Frank gave a film maker’s insight into the highs and lows of the screen writer’s creative cycle. He explored the connections between inspiration and his ‘counter cultural set of beliefs.’
Frank’s prolific career has embraced writing for established UK soap operas ‘Brookside’ and ‘Coronation Street’ in the late 1980s. He has worked with directors including Danny Boyle, Alex Cox, Julien Temple and Michael Winterbottom, with whom he’s made seven films including 24 Hour Party People, A Cock and Bull Story and Welcome to Sarajevo. He has been called ‘one of the few truly inventive modern-day screenwriters’ and has recently been involved in writing the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in London.
Angel and Cesar Urbina won the Insight Judges’ Award at least years 3rd Insight Festival 2011. Their film was chosen as the best in festival by the judges, and we were delighted to screen such a beautifully crafted and haunting animation.
Angel and Cesar answered our questions from their studio in Spain.
How did you feel winning an award at the 3rd Insight Festival 2011?
It was amazing to hear that we won the Judges’ Award in Manchester Insight Film Festival. All the team who worked during the last two years were very pleased and proud about wining such an amazing award.
What inspired you to make a film about faith?
My brother and I grew up in Logroño. This city, capital of La Rioja, hosted the court of the Inquisition for over 500 years.
When we were kids, we used to play in a beautiful medieval square. Some years later we discovered that the Inquisition had tried a group of men and women accused of witchcraft, and they were sentenced to being burned at the stake in this square.
Faith can be great, but also dangerous for people who are different. Here it was our story.
What were the challenges you faced when making your film?
Of course, the main challenge was to get the money. But now we hardly remember this part.
In the beginning, we tried to make an animated short film who could be enjoyed and understood by everybody around the world. Not only for the Spanish people, or people from Catholic cultures. So we decided to work on a silent movie with no dialogue.
For this reason this prize is so important for us, because people living far away from us, can understand and feel the same we felt.
Jenna Hill directed ‘Project Jerusalem’ which won the SIGNIS Award at the 3rd Insight Festival 2011. Jenna’s documentary explored her understanding of her own faith and its origins, and took her from New York City to Jerusalem. As well as the Award, Jenna won a money-can’t-buy prize thanks to festival partners SIGNIS. Jenna will travel to Italy to sit on the SIGNIS jury at the Religion Today Film Festival.
We asked Jenna to reflect on her film, and how she felt winning an award.
How did you feel winning an award at the 3rd Insight Festival 2011?
It was very hard to believe! My first international award! I had been winding down on sending out Project Jerusalem to film festivals after moving to New York City and beginning to work on my next film, but this award has proven to me that the film and its topic still hold resonance. Project Jerusalem is obviously a very personal and intimate portrait for me and it is wonderful to have shared it at such a great festival with so many inspiring films and filmmakers. To have won an award on top of that is like icing on a cake!
What inspired you to make a film about faith?
Faith to me is something that transcends all borders – geographical, historical, physiological, and mental. Although I personally do not ascribe to a specific religion per se, I still have the same thoughts and fears about mortality, ethics, and meaning that have plagued humanity for centuries. A professor of film once said to me that faith or curiosity about something larger than oneself is an intrinsically universal human characteristic and therefore any work of art that does not address it in some small form is ultimately meaningless. I suppose I took that advice to heart!
What were the challenges you faced when making your film?
Traveling to Israel and not knowing much about the geography of Jerusalem was somewhat of a challenge, especially with camera equipment in tow! I only had one week to shoot everything in Jerusalem and ended up with hours upon hours of amazing footage. I’d say the most difficult challenge was the editing process. I wanted the film to address personal issues, but in a universally relatable way. Choosing the best footage to do this was a challenge for me, albeit a welcome one.
Alex Horsfall directed Looking After Edward, winner of the Insight Award at the 3rd Insight Festival 2011. The Insight Award is granted to a young filmmaker aged under 25, and along with the Award Alex won an expenses paid summer workshop at EICAR, the Film & Television School in Paris.
We asked Alex to reflect on her film, and how she felt winning an award.
How did you feel winning an award at the 3rd Insight Festival 2011?
It was totally unexpected but we were utterly thrilled! It was rewarding for the whole cast and crew of our little film to know that it was so well received by a judging panel of such notable repute in the industry.
What inspired you to make a film about faith?
In short, a very personal story. I knew I wanted to make a film about childhood that related to my own experiences in some way. As the story gradually took shape it became more about the way different people live and think and how they can (and on occasion, can’t) find a way to accept and comprehend one another. This is something I find bewildering as a ‘grown-up’ and I thought was even more interesting when explored through the eyes of a child who has not quite yet learned to judge and cast aside, as ‘grown-ups’ often do.
What were the challenges you faced when making your film?
One of our earliest working scripts included children, animals, an elderly lady, and a waterfight – all of the things one is generally told to avoid when making a film. We cut out the animals but the rest remained and it was in large part due to the enthusiasm, intelligence, and overflowing charisma of the children involved that the film was able to be made. They really seemed to understand what was being asked of them despite the fact that the basis of the story – a death in the family – is really quite a hard thing for a 4 year old to process. Money was another issue – we had no budget to speak of and it was the generosity of the cast and crew who volunteered their time and skills, as well as a local television company and a very kind man with a videocamera that really saved the day for us.
Review of the 3rd Insight Festival 2011 by Lee Bradshaw
The first weekend of December found Manchester hosting the 3rd annual Insight Film Festival. Organized in association with Coexist, the festival was a weekend of screenings, discussion and debate based around ideas of faith within cinema. These themes were examined from an array of perspectives ranging from spirituality to religious belief to atheism, by films contributed from many parts of the world. This made Insight Festival a truly international affair. Manchester offered these far-flung visitors a classically wet and windy welcome and so it was a relief to escape into the welcoming environment of the Zion Arts Centre with its relaxed yet vibrant atmosphere. In a weekend of such diversity there was something for everyone and the quality of all the films entered was enjoyably high but some of my personal highlights included:
Imagination: Animated Shorts
This session contained four great films but two in particular went on to win prizes on Sunday. Akerbeltz: The Witches and the Inquisidor by Cesar and Angel Urbina combined stunning folk art animation with a powerful soundtrack to tell a mesmerising tale of persecution during the Spanish Inquisition and won the Best In Festival award. Meanwhile The Backwater Gospel by Bo Mathorne was awarded the British Rationalist Award for its story of religious bigotry leading to disaster in a small town; its gothic imagery perfectly illustrating this tragic tale.
The Insight Festival Lecture: Frank Cottrell Boyce
This lecture by the author and screenwriter of 24 Hour Party People and Millions and many other works was a real highlight of the weekend for me. Titled ‘Special Effect: The joy and pain of having a counter cultural set of beliefs’ it was a fascinating account of his many years in the film and TV businesses and the ups and downs that have gone along with that. Frank proved to be an excellent choice of speaker – warm, witty and self-deprecating and epitomized that essential philosophy of ‘taking the work seriously without taking yourself too seriously’. It was extremely helpful and genuinely inspiring to hear of his belief that his best work has been done when working outside his comfort zone, and of his experiences of frustration at times during the process of seeing his scripts being realized. As a culture we seem to be fixated on the idea that success or progression in life (in many senses) ought to be absolutely linear and uninterrupted but this is often unrealistic and Frank’s story bore this out and was a timely reminder that persistence and patience are a must when working in the world of film and TV.
UK Preview: KINYARWANDA
The Winner of the World Cinema Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this was the first time that Kinyarwanda (Rwanda/USA, Dir: Alrick Brown, 2011) had been shown in the UK. Set in 1994 and telling six interwoven tales of faith and survival during the slaughter in Rwanda, this is initially a confusing film to watch due to the depiction of a whole community in crisis meaning that a bewildering amount of characters are introduced in the first few scenes. However it soon settles into a coherent and ultimately deeply affecting tale of the consequences of violence and the resilience of faith and humanity in the face of adversity. Well worth sticking with.
The weekend culminated in an entertaining awards ceremony well hosted by BBC newsreader and journalist Ranvir Singh which rounded off a highly enjoyable and thought-provoking experience. Many of the things that I saw and heard over the course of the weekend will stay with me. Bring on Insight Festival Four!
Akerbeltz: The Witches and the Inquisitor (Cesar Urbina)is loosely based on the story of the trial of the alleged Basque witches of Zugarramurdi by the Spanish Inquision in 1610. In this version, the three women accused of being witches have a young boy as a companion and to aid him in his attempt to rescue them he calls upon Akerbeltz, a god of an ancient cult. Thought to be the protecting spirit of nature, Akerbeltz was worshipped by witches and thus agrees to help the boy to save the women before they are burnt at the stake. With the spirit taking the form of a giant wolf, they do battle with soldiers but fail to rescue the women in time. In a mystical process however, Akerbeltz transforms their charred bodies into large standing stones, suggesting that their essence survives within.
This lovingly rendered animated fable is stunning to look at, with the folk-like figures of the characters contrasting with beautiful photographic backdrops to create a highly atmospheric and evocative visual. A haunting soundtrack reinforces the ethereal feel of the film and an absence of dialogue allows the images to really bring the story to life. This combines with the tense narrative to create a charged and dynamic tale of violence, morality and spirituality. At the close of the film, a dedication to all those who lost their lives in the auto-da-fé rituals of public penance and execution at that time makes for a poignant and thought-provoking ending.
The Insight address at Media City in Manchester is very much a place of the future. Thousands of staff working for the BBC (the UK’s national broadcaster) are in the process of moving in. We have our little connection courtesy of one of our partner’s – The Anchor. The driving force behind the Anchor is their amazing chaplain – the Revd Hayley Matthews. It’s time to find out more, so Hayley has stepped up to the Insight Blog so we can ask her …
You’re a chaplain to MediaCityUK, What does that mean?
HAYLEY: Almost everyday I am asked what exactly a priest does somewhere like MediaCityUK. I can reel off twenty different roles, eight key communities, and 101 related activities, after all I work with faith groups, Churches Together, Salford University, Ordsall and Langworthy Neighbourhood Groups, the BBC, CVS and I am involved in Social Media, religious broadcasting, preaching, teaching, training and praying… shall I go on? In essence it’s about being pastorally present, about community cohesion, and about providing a media-friendly faith space as well as faith perspectives for the media and wider community. The Anchor is an advocate for people of all-faiths in negotiating space for prayerful reflection, gently reminding ourselves about the commitment to environmental stewardship as well as inspiring creativity in a city that demands it, 24-7.
INSIGHT: Your favourite film?
HAYLEY: Gosh that’s a hard question! I have to admit that I still adore The Sound of Music and Emma, but The Diving Bell and the Butterfly , XXY, The Life Aquatic and V for Vendetta are all films that have deeply moved me as well as being brilliantly filmed, in terms of cinematography and stylised editing. So much choice! I’m a bit of a sucker for horror films too, my worst/favourite being The Ring. Boy That film spooked me! Fabulous!
INSIGHT: Do people take faith seriously nowadays?
HAYLEY: People of faith do! That’s a tough question and I’m not sure it’s just about faith. I think it’s more to do with people treating one another and their beliefs or cultural norms with respect. People who are respectful, take faith seriously whether or not they have faith themselves. Disrespectful people will always find something to sneer at. In some ways, now that we live in a multi-faith and multi-cultural world faith is taken more seriously as our own beliefs and world views are challenged, and we have to wrestle more deeply with what we believe and why. People are always surprised to learn that priests are trained via Theological degrees including Masters and PhDs given that some people suggest we have to suspend our intellect in order to have faith. That it not at all true: our faith traditions, doctrine and scriptures are deeply studied, challenged and explored in a rigorous academic environment; indeed it is vitally important for our brains and beliefs to co-exist if we are not to fall foul to bigotry and blind prejudice.
INSIGHT: If you had the budget, what is the film you would make?
HAYLEY: Now there’s a question! Apart from The Passion most religious films leave me squirming. I’d really love to see something that has the imagination to bring to life something like the opening chapters of Ezekiel and the wheels and flying creatures, with our all-powerful unseen creator present in blinding light combined with the images in Revelation of Apocalyptic horsemen and winds being sent out to the corners of the earth to effect the world and its people. We seem to focus on Jesus and His humanity (necessary) but when I see some of the Sc-Fi or end-of-world, or demonic themes filmed with such digital creativity, I always wonder why we don’t do something Christian that is more supernaturally spiritual and breathtakingly, awe-inspiring in terms of movement, imagery and effects breaking us out of the temporal zone into the eternal. So yeah, nothing too ambitious…
INSIGHT: Religion: a force for good or harm?
HAYLEY: Good, always. Broadly speaking, faiths seek after three things: relationship with the Divine, serving others and peace. Sadly, people with a greed for either power and/or position and/or some form of inequality that privileges them will always use ‘God’ as the ultimate stick to beat people with, but it’s very important to grasp when somebody is using an ideology – whether it is religious, political or philosophical – for their own ends, or if they actually subscribe to it. That discernment is necessary every time we hear that somebody caused suffering in the name of one religion or another, because truly faith-ful people live and relate in love.
INSIGHT: Insight’s winning films may make us laugh, cry and think. Will they do anything else?
HAYLEY: They have the potential to change lives, given their subject matter. That’s why my film list was so long: each taught me something about their characters, about the way that others have to live, about human nature, about things I’d like to do something about. Not only that, but Insight will bring people from a wide variety of faith perspectives together, and that can only be a good thing if we come out of our silos and learn about each other using a common goal as a positive place to start.
INSIGHT: Faith and film. A good idea?
HAYLEY: A brilliant idea! Human beings are by nature narrative, starting with bedtime stories and fairy-tales through to wisdom tales and parables on through apocalyptic scriptural texts. Film is the visual and technological version of our need to tell these stories, to explain our existence and send subliminal messages about community, love, faith, hope, suffering and sorrow. But it’s a medium that isn’t restricted by our memories or a single imagination – it can fuse genres, skills and visions from a far wider pool of creativity, and take us beyond our own tiny worlds, into one we never knew existed. At MediaCityUk we have a monthly Faith in Films night because we don’t need to show ‘religious’ films, the majority are already stories of extraordinary human courage and the potential we have if we dare to fulfil our call to the divine spark within us all and live in true community. Films are almost always about the triumph of good over evil, about resurrection, forgiveness, clean slates and starting over. Faith and film are already inseparable.
“The Book of Mormon” debuted this year as a Broadway hit that won nine Tonys, and the 2012 race for the Republican presidential nomination features not one, but two candidates of the Mormon faith.
Think what you want but Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world. To match the growth of its American centric following Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have launched an “I’m a Mormon” advertising campaign to make us all learn the true ways of the little known, probably misunderstood religion.
This tactic which may not lend itself to religion or church is less about attraction of supporters but a ploy to change the opinion among its dominant American audience. Its advertising represents a new interest gathered by mainstream America in response to the Broadway hit co-written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the satiric television cartoon “South Park,” – where just under half of its 14 million worldwide followers reside in the United States.
The church’s success in the arts has now meant it can try dispel the myths that have built up over generations. However its not just Broadway where the church have found its imagery used, its now lured its way into popular culture with even references to Twilight have been noted.
Leah Brown of Mesa, Arizona, a Mormon who is participating in the program, said non-Mormons often “are hesitant to ask” about her faith.
“This is a very natural opportunity to have a conversation with my friends of other faiths and hopefully help them better understand who we are,” she said.
Personally this type of religious advertising doesn’t sit easy with me, although that may just be my British stand point. Does religion have a place in the world of advertising and marketing? There may be a deep history in America with it but is this not just the last attempt by religion to reach its hand out to a disillusioned audience?
Red State is Kevin Smith’s new film and those familiar with his previous work, in particular Dogma (1999), will know that the preoccupations of this new production, namely the exploration of religious belief and the tension between the benefits of such beliefs and the contrasting potential for intolerance and ignorance, are ones that the feted US indie director is both passionate and eloquent about.
Red State begins by introducing three high school boys who have set up a sexual encounter with older woman Sara (Melissa Yeo) whom they met online. Things look promising for the boys upon meeting Sara when she promises them “the devil’s play” but the liaison soon goes badly wrong when they are given drugged beer, then caged and kidnapped.
The film begins in earnest as charismatic preacher Abin Cooper (Michael Parks) and his congregation take centre stage. This particular church has an extreme anti-homosexual stance, believing that all the world’s problems are manifestations of God’s anger over the tolerance of homosexuality. The boys are to be sacrificed due to their willingness to share a bed while jointly having sex with Sara. However, due to their involvement in a hit-and-run incident en route to Sara’s trailer, the police soon track them to the church’s compound. Shortly afterwards the situation escalates into a fire fight between the authorities and the heavily-armed church members in a way reminiscent of the 1993 Waco siege of the Branch Davidians by the FBI.
In addition to this association, the film references the highly controversial Westboro Baptist church, even mentioning it and its leader Fred Phelps by name at one point. Similarities between the real life and fictional churches are numerous and precise. Both consist of a congregation who are all related by blood or by marriage. Both have extreme far-right ideologies concerning sexuality (the Westboro church is widely viewed as a hate group, and monitored as such by the American Anti-Defamation League). Both also generate media awareness of their cause by intensely controversial means such as the picketing of the funerals of gay men and women.
As such there is no mistaking the identity of the film’s target, just as there is no mistaking director Smith’s liberal agenda. This is best illustrated in a one-off example during Cooper’s opening sermon. In this sequence (which suffers from the weight of too much exposition and almost stalls at points due to the effects of so much information and explanation), the preacher asks of his congregation who it is that is responsible for the woeful state of the world today. The answer he desires is of course “homosexuals” and is delivered by a young child, who’s innocently gleeful face shown in close-up in this moment may leave the viewer not only in no doubt as to the film’s stance but also with a slight sense of having been somewhat emotionally manipulated.
This does not detract from the shocking nature of some of the actions perpetrated by the congregation in this scene though in their treatment of their prisoners, and there are some effectively upsetting moments here. To the film’s credit these events are never portrayed in a gratuitous or sensationalist manner and are genuinely motivated by character and plot. There are no Tarantino tendencies here. The church members’ hatred of homosexuality is further explained in this section of the film by the justification that only heterosexuality can result in procreation, which is believed by them to be God’s will for all men and women.
Meanwhile, outside the compound, government forces are amassing led by agent Joseph Keenan played by John Goodman, whose inherent likeability is put to good use in strengthening Smith’s attempts to highlight the contrasting moralities on opposing sides of the barricades. This is soon subverted however as the law enforcement operatives lose control of the situation and are consequently given orders to kill all members of the church – women and children included – in order to avoid witnesses and media awareness of the mishandling. Goodman’s character has to decide whether to put his own career first by following orders that he finds morally abhorrent or whether to take personal responsibility for doing the right thing. This is where the film becomes really interesting as characters leave black and white behind and have to find their own moral path.
Although Red State at times seems a little confused during its latter half in attempting to depict these increasingly nuanced character developments and narrative, this seems forgivable – indeed congruent – upon such ambiguous, ambivalent moral ground. Smith’s characterisation and dialogue – which has always been his strength – is perhaps not as vividly present here as in some of his other work (he seems better able to write truly memorable characters in comedy than drama) but this is offset by this being his most aesthetically accomplished film to date. The cinematography (David Klein) and editing (Smith) are of a much higher standard than usual, giving the whole film a more fluid and cohesive feel than previous work. Anyone who particularly enjoys the furiously paced and jagged-edged chase scene should seek out Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express (1994) for more of the same.
Overall then, this is a film with a lot going for it. Good performances and a charged atmosphere combine with a narrative that evolves away from Red State’s initial stereotyping and slight over-simplification of issues to provide an experience which while not perfect, is plausible and enjoyable. The issues of personal belief that are explored, whether of the purely religious variety or the agents’ dilemmas over the morality of their orders may well raise questions and concerns that stay with audiences long after the film is over.
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