As a kid, I would often find myself swept up in the adventures that were playing out on the big screen. I imagined that I was Rufio fighting Captain Hook, Henry Rowengartner pitching for the Cubs, or Maximus Aurelius standing before thousands in the Roman Colosseum.
Not only did I love watching movies, I wanted to make them. I was inspired by directors like Steven Spielberg and M. Night Shyamalan. I got my first video camera in the 5th grade and began writing and directing my own short films. While other kids were playing summer league baseball, I was recreating the Sandlot. Somewhere along the way, I realized that any good movie could stir not only your imagination, but your soul.
At the heart of any worthy film, is a great story, and the greatest filmmakers are some of the most profound storytellers. Every January for the past 46 years, some of these masterful storytellers have gathered together to explore the depths of the human experience through cinematography.
This past January, I had a front row seat. The Windrider Forum/Sundance Film Festival Experience may be the best kept secret in Young Life. Every January, the YL Community Networks office leads a dozen or so staff, Committee and friends of Young Life out into the mountains of Park City, Utah to attend the renowned festival for independent films.
For five days we bounced around town attending the premiers of various action films, thrillers, dark comedies, and documentaries. We got a behind the scenes look at filmmaking, sitting at the feet of Oscar winners and Oscar hopefuls, Hollywood stars and no name actors, seasoned directors and first time filmmakers alike.
At the end of each day, our little Young Life fellowship would gather at a lodge just outside of town, and wade into the shallows of the existential questions being explored by some of the world’s most influential independent filmmakers. By the end of each night, we were all tired. But something had been awakened in me.
My biggest take-away came from the festival within the festival.
The Windrider Summit hosts a large group of people of faith from a variety of backgrounds from all over the country, who gather at Sundance to discuss faith and film. Every morning, before embarking on our movie marathon, we would gather in a chapel turned theater to thoughtfully engage culture through a uniquely spiritual lens.
The summit hosts and awards various filmmakers, both Christian and non-Christian, who are impacting culture through their art. The distinct emphasis of Windrider is on the power of storytelling, through the medium of film. It is that spirit of Windrider that captivated and inspired me.
As we took the time to engage film through a distinctly theological lens, I was reminded that every film is theological in its nature. Filmmakers are in essence cultural theologians, offering unique perspectives on faith, meaning, redemption, suffering, and the human condition.
A common theme that kept coming up this year was fatherhood. Films like To My Father, We Were Meant To, Super/man: The Christopher Reeve Story, Exhibiting Forgiveness, and Daughters all grapple in their own unique way with the complexities of fatherhood and a father's impact in the lives of their children.
If the cultural theologians are noticing the importance of fatherhood to the human experience, who better to enter the conversation than Christian filmmakers who are able to communicate the extravagant love of a heavenly father for whom we know the world is searching.
As Young Life staff, we have been commissioned to communicate the greatest story ever told. Why would we not engage a world longing for hope with one of the most powerful mediums available to us?
I left the Sundance Experience more assured of my calling and more inspired to continue to use film to communicate the transformative power of the gospel through the stories of staff, leaders, kids, and friends of Young Life. In some ways, I’m still that 5th grade kid, discovering over and over again the wonder of making movies. But, now I have a greater purpose and endless stories to tell.
Written by: Bryan Spillman
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