Two years ago, Young Life gave staff the opportunity to experience the Sundance Film Festival as a winter Training Timeline option for those who had finished AD school. I jumped at the opportunity, and soon found myself at a film premiere, watching a movie starring The Rock… with the The Rock in attendance about 15 rows in front of me.
Some of the highest grossing films this year, such as Shang-Chi, Dune, Black Widow, Godzilla Vs Kong, A Quiet Place 2, No Time To Die, Halloween Kills, Eternals, were ALL directed by filmmakers whose earlier films premiered at Sundance, with them in attendance alongside festival attendees like me.
Through our partnership with Fuller Theological Seminary, we’re offered a graduate level course called The Sundance Windrider Summit. The Windrider Summit is designed to encourage thoughtful conversation against the backdrop of Sundance films and inspire the next generation of Christian leaders.
Each morning, our group of Young Life staff joined a few hundred other students from about fifteen other seminaries and organizations, where instructors taught on how to look for the gospel (or lack of the gospel) through contemporary independent film. They also brought in numerous directors, currently premiering their movies at the festival, for interviews with the class.
After each morning class, we would walk through the snowy, picturesque Rocky mountain town of Park City, Utah to find our theaters and watch a movie (or two) a day. Many of those films would be introduced by the cast and director, with hopes of their movie becoming the next Sundance darling, which happened to first films made by past directors here like Christopher Nolan, Rian Johnson, and Quintin Tarantino.
It was a gift to experience such an influential film festival while translating with other Young Life staff the practicals of using our world's culture as ways to teach about Christ. This class was impactful on my ability to use certain popular movies almost like parables, helping to illustrate points while teaching at Campaigners, leadership, or club. The class also helped me wrestle with what current independent films communicate about the heart of our secular-cultured ministry field.
I found many of these films reflect what we’re seeing in the broken lives of kids we care about, and the need and longing for a savior was just under the surface of each movie we watched there. These filmmakers are cultural theologians with a pulse on what matters to our furthest-out-there society, and their films can give us more empathy and language to help us communicate the gospel in a language they can understand.
Although our class is already full this year, Young Life is offering all interested staff the opportunity this January to join in VIRTUALLY from the warmth of your own home. Join students and leaders from around the world as we gather virtually during the Sundance Film Festival, January 23-28th, 2022. A fee of $250 not only gets you Zoom access into the Windrider Forum class for the week, but also access to your choice of 7 different feature films premiering at Sundance, which you can view from any screen accessible to stream online content. Sign up closes December 5th. Click here to sign up today!
Written by Ryan Mecum, Area Director (ryanmecum@gmail.com)