SAICFF 2010

   

A month ago today, I flew to Texas for the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and Academy.  Ten of my friends from the film crew also flew down, and we all connected in Atlanta (except for the three that drove down from Ohio/Missouri/North Texas).  We stayed at Anna Becker's house near San Antonio, which was a blast!  There were air mattresses everywhere!  Her family was so sweet and hospitable.  :-)

Things have been crazy ever since I got back (well, ever since the first of September, actually), which is why this post is so late in coming.  But I'll give you more of an update about all that later.  For now, let's talk about my adventures in Texas...

I was excited I got to sit beside Dan Stibral from Richmond to Atlanta!

Spencer Weaver was my excellent riding companion from Atlanta to San Antonio!

This isn't going to be a very detailed blog.  More of an overview.  I'll refer you to my friend Joshua Hedrick's blog for a more detailed account of the teaching at the academy.  There are also lots of pictures and video clips of the speakers on Doug Phillip's blog, here and near the bottom of this page.

 

I will say this:  Attending the San Antonio Independent Film Festival and Academy was worth every penny I spent, and I can't wait until February 2012 for the next one!  I came away encouraged, challenged, convicted, and inspired.  It was an incredible event, and I was blessed by the outstanding teaching and the forging of many new friendships.  I was privileged to meet many people I have admired and respected for a long time, such as Doug Phillips, Geoff Botkin and most of his family (Mrs. Botkin, Anna Sofia, Elizabeth, Isaac, and David), Nathaniel Darnell, John Moore and most of his family, Derek Moreland, David Heustis, and others.

Two of our guest speakers were Kirk Cameron (Fireproof) and Stephen Kendrick (Sherwood Pictures).  Kirk gave his powerful testimony and shared a lot of great information about acting, the auditioning process, how he approaches scenes where he needs to cry for several takes and how he achieves that emotion, etc.  He also did a hands-on workshop with several members of the audience where they acted out scenes from "Casablanca" and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" as if for a screen test.

I really enjoyed Stephen Kendrick's lectures as well.  He said that we should not be Christian Filmmakers.  Instead, we should be Christians who are filmmakers...ready to pack up and move on to a different vocation if the Lord leads us in another direction.  He also emphasized that we should strive to create an atmosphere of love on our film sets, and thereby minister to the cast and crew working with us.  Ironically, that statement had me thinking about Joe all week, and how our love had reached out to him and made a difference in his life.

Another awesome part of the week was getting to see the Alamo!  I was SO EXCITED!!!  We walked by and saw it at night, and then came back for the tour the next morning.

I sure was excited that I finally got to go to Texas.  This is what I told some of my friends:  "Part of my heart has been in Texas for a long time, and I'm just happy that the rest of me finally gets to catch up with it."  :-)  Oh, and there was an Alamo gift shop in the Riverside Mall, and of course they had a big display of John Wayne stuff, and I kinda melted every time we walked by.  :-)

Outside the Mall:

   

Mr. Munger, Mr. Escobar (and his two sons, Stephen and Vincent) flew down for just the Festival.  That brought our numbers up to about 15.  Here is most of our group from the crew:

Well, that's all for tonight, folks.  I hope everybody is doing well!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!