"Hollywood is at war with Christianity and the American family. However, we are not interested in cursing the darkness any longer. Let us now begin to light the candles." With these words, Doug Phillips, founder of Vision Forum, opened the first annual San Antonio Independent Film Festival on November 11, 2004, an event dominated by the participation of homeschool families. More than 75 percent of the more than 120 participants came from the rank and file of the homeschool community. Most of the winners in this historic event represented the homeschool community as well.

"Culture is the outward expression of the true faith of any people," Phillips explained in his opening address. "Christians, for too long, have let others control the culture. Stories are being forgotten and the future culture of the world depends upon our remembering them."

"The future of this culture will be waged in the hearts and minds of our nation," he added. "Christians need to be part of that, instead of retreating from it. We are not here to clean up Hollywood and make their films acceptable for our audience. The foundation of our films must be in Christ."

Not the type of speech one normally expects to hear at a motion picture event.

However, the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival was unusual by any standard. The event was distinctly Christian, focusing on displaying the film projects of aspiring directors of all ages in the Christian community, while also endeavoring to prepare others for similar creative efforts in the future. An eclectic group of gifted speakers included New Zealand film documentary director Geoffrey Botkin; Rich Christiano, writer and director of the widely acclaimed feature film Time Changer; authors Dr. George Grant and Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.; and acclaimed Hollywood director Ron Maxwell, who directed the Civil War epics Gettysburg and Gods and Generals.

The more than 700 attendees were also treated to the viewing of a wide range of Christian film projects, from provocative films that caused one to question the secular worldview to narrative films that delighted the soul. Awards were given in categories ranging from political documentaries to best creation film. A special category for Young Filmmakers displayed the budding talents of several creative young people, most of them representatives of the homeschool community.

Caleb Walsh, the winner of the Young Filmmaker Award, is a 15-year-old homeschooler, one of nine siblings. His winning film was a 31-minute production called In the Dead of Summer. This short film tells the story of a confused and lonely teenager who is battling with his own concept of God, while being inundated with humanistic doctrines in a high school science class. His struggle takes place in a small town where the local people are also dealing with the strange disappearance of several of its citizens, disappearances attributed to a strange creature of local legend. With a cast and crew of family and friends, Caleb brought in his production at a cost of $7,000.

"I am so excited. I did not think that I would win," Walsh, a bright and charming young man, commented after the award ceremony where he was presented with a crystal trophy. "I saw all the other films and how good they were and I knew that I would not get any award."

Another contender in the Young Filmmaker category was homeschooler Rachel Canter, the festival's youngest entrant. The 8-year-old from Palm Springs, California, produced a 30-minute film called Genesis and the Dinosaurs. In the film, Rachel tells the story of creation from a child's point of view. As a backdrop, she used the largest concrete dinosaur in the world, a sculpture owned by her family. The dinosaur is one of two dinosaur landmarks off Highway 10 near Palm Springs and was originally built by a craftsman from Knott's Berry Farm.

Though this film was the first by the Canter family, Rachel's father plans to become more involved in filmmaking projects in the future. "If you do films properly, they can be a service to the Lord," Gary Canter explained. "For me, it is not enough to make clean entertainment; the purpose is to glorify the character of God, and He is glorified through His Son, Jesus Christ."

The largest award in the film festival was a $10,000 check awarded for the Best Film of the Festival. This year, the award went to twin homeschool graduates Joel and Graham Fisher. The 20-year-old brothers won for a film called The Art of Play, produced by their own production house, Beowulf Studios. The 14-minute short film poetically and touchingly mourns the loss of imaginative play in the modern world.

The Fishers got their professional start in filmmaking when they were hired to film the 2002 documentary Raising the Allosaurus, a film that follows the famous dinosaur dig where Pete DeRosa and his group of homeschooling amateur paleontologists discovered an Allosaurus fossil.

"We got a break on that one," Jowl Fisher commented wryly. "It really helps a documentary if you can find a dinosaur bone at the end of it."

He and his twin brother Graham are self-taught filmmakers who are serious about their craft. They are already in the midst of planning new film projects, a task that should be aided by the $10,000 award for the festival film. For them, working together seems natural. "We love the collaborative process," Graham explained.

For their mother Terry, the award was just another indication of God's leading in her sons' lives. "I feel very blessed," she said through tears of joy. "God has confirmed the calling in their lives and there is nothing that brings more joy to a mother's heart than that."

Terry said that her family has always been interested in the filmmaking process, but that the boys did not ever even have a camera in their hands until the family went on a trip to Scotland when the twins were 15. "They fell in love with cinematography then and have never looked back," she said.

Terry explained how she and her husband had used their homeschooling experience to help prepare her sons for the challenges that lie ahead. "We encouraged them to have a Christian worldview, to glorify God by helping change our culture and bringing it back to its Christian foundations, and to pursue excellence in all that they do."

She explained that her husband had used a wise selection of quality films through the years to develop their sons' burgeoning skills. "Sometimes the films had hard things in them, but we used quality films so that we could explain what a real story was, what good cinematography was," she commented.

Though the San Antonio Independent Film Festival was not focused on the homeschool community, Phillips feels that it is no mistake that so many homeschoolers participated. "I think that homeschoolers tend to represent the cultural best efforts of evangelical Christians," Phillips explained in an interview. "They tend to be innovative; they are used to finding new and creative ways for communicating truth. These qualities are also important in filmmaking."

Dr. George Grant, a well known speaker and author in the classical and homeschool educational community, agrees. "Homeschoolers can have a tremendous impact on the cultural future of this country. One of the things that homeschoolers have that others do not have, even in the Christian world, is that independent spirit that allows them to think outside the box."

"I believe that, in the future, in order to break out of the cultural patterns that we have adopted, it is going to require that kind of independent thinking," Grant explained in a personal interview. "In addition, many homeschoolers have tackled a much more substantive approach to education, so that they are much better prepared for the cultural tasks at hand."

However, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr., was quick to caution against overemphasis on the cultural influence of the homeschool movement. "I am not interested in homeschooling to change the country," he explained. "I am primarily interested in homeschooling to change my children. I think that we need to learn to see our children not as tools for cultural change, but as the culture itself. We should focus on raising godly children."

Doug Phillips agrees that the home should be the focus. "The great incubator for culture is the Christian home," he said. "We have the freedom to build culture God's way-first in our families and then we can affect the other elements in society."

However, Phillips feels that the time has come for Christians to become more involved in filmmaking ass a vehicle for truth. He was very pleased with the response to this first film festival and plans to host the event as an annual occasion to honor the best in Christian filmmaking-a cultural tool that he feels the Christian community has ignored for too long. Some in the Christian community have embraced the world's vision of filmmaking, while others have considered the theater as somehow inherently evil.

"Culture is inescapable," Phillips said in a personal interview. "Technology is simply a vehicle and a tool. By and large, what is being broadcast now is evil. However, the problem is not the theater; it is the way that it is being used in our current culture. Christians need to reclaim this tool."

Ron Maxwell, who has already succeeded in Hollywood, explained why he felt that Christian filmmakers will play an integral role in the future. "These films are important," he said. "We are in the great tradition of cathedral builders, of novelists, of artists. Filmmakers should not be preachers. But they should tell the important stories that lead others to the truth."

Rich Christiano, arguably one of today's most successful Christian filmmakers, explained his own motivations for producing films with a Christian focus. "I love Christian films," he said. "That's the Big Time. We can either try to win Oscars, or souls."

"God is more pleased with a 9-year-old making a Christian film than He is with Steven Speilberg," he added.

2004 SAICFF Award-Winning Films

Best of Festival
The Art of Play-Joel and Graham Fisher
Runner Up: Choosing Life-Shane Sooter

Best Narrative Film
Choosing Life-Shane Sooter
Runners Up: After Hours-Shane Sooter; Washington's Cross-Richard Ramsey

Best Documentary
Broad Oak: A Father's Legacy-Abigail Fox (UK)
Runner Up: Warriors of Honor-Brian Barkley

Best Political Film
Shaky Town-Colin and Euan Gunn
Runner Up: The Wall-Ed and Josh Litton

Best Creation Film
From Genesis to Genes-Wes P. Olsen
Runner Up: Through High Places-Dennis L. Zwonitzer

Young Filmmaker Award
In the Dead of Summer-Caleb Walsh

Audience Choice Award
Washington's Cross-Richard Ramsey

Best Trailer Award
For His Glory-Amy Nisbett

For copies of these films, or for more information on them, contact Vision Forum at 210-340-5250 or log on to www.independentchristianfilms.com.

For more information on the upcoming festival or on submitting a film, please log on to www.independentchristianfilms.com.