FILM NEWS

Faith in Hollywood: More Movies Exhibit Christian Faith and Values

ASSIST News Service

CBN.com – BEVERLY HILLS, CA (ANS) -- Media expert Dr. Ted Baehr says that there are so many good movies and TV shows to choose from for the 14th Annual MovieGuide® Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry on March 2 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, that the judges will have a difficult task.

He also announced a new award this year – the $50,000 Ware Foundation Libertas Prize, which is co-sponsored with MovieGuide®.

“This prize is for the one person and or individual who has done the most to improve cultural understanding and people in the other countries by showing a positive or more balanced view of Americans in the mass media and/or presenting the best American values in an inspiring way,” he said in an interview with ANS.

He then spoke about the $50,000 John Templeton Foundation Epiphany Prizes that were created to encourage filmmakers and television producers to create movies and shows that help increase the understanding and love of God.

“There are so many good entries for these prizes that we really have to discern between a lot of films and TV programs,” Dr. Baehr continued. “We have never had so many to choose from as we have this year,

“Some of them, like The Diary of a Mad Black Woman, have some questionable content too, but I thought at the beginning of the year, we would be giving them out to a handful of films and it would be easy, but this year is not easy.

“The hidden story that I don’t think that anybody is reporting despite the press making a big brouhaha on some of these tiny little films like Syriana and Brokeback Mountain, which do not make money at the Box Office, is that there are a lot of positive films out there that do make money like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dreamer, Madagascar, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They are all good. The press may not recognize them, but the American people do and it is quite incredible.”

Then he smiled and added, “The choice is too tough, so I guess I am going to have to appeal to Hollywood to make fewer movies with faith and values.”

Dr. Baehr then spoke about the John Templeton Foundation’s $50,000 Kairos Prizes for Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays.

Baehr said the three top prizes in the contest will be awarded to first-time screenwriters.

“The Kairos Prizes are designed to encourage the production of movies that are wholesome, uplifting, and inspirational, and that result in a greater increase in either man's understanding or love of God,” he said.

He went on to say that the top three winners will receive $50,000 in prizes, with the top winner receiving $25,000. The top winner's script will also be read by top studio executives at Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, and Universal.

“We have had a great response and one room in our office is just full of scripts,” he said. “One day, our good friends Michael Trent and Kori Sparks were looking at all of the scripts, and they were just piled up. It looked like something out of a movie because there were so many of them there. It is going to be tough to choose the winners.”

Family films will also be honored. “We have never had so many to choose from,” he said.

Dr. Baehr said that the gala will feature some special awards that attendees will find out about during the event. “I have to keep the names out of the limelight because some are of them are going to be honored at the event,” he said.

“We know that some of the top people in the industry have said that they are going to come as well as some of our big supporters, like Dr. John Templeton Jr., who has already made his reservation.

“We are counting on an extra 100 people from last year, which will be an increase of 25 percent, and last year we had a 25 percent increase on the last day, so not only do we have more good movies to look at, but we have more people who are excited about coming.”

The primary purpose of the Kairos Prize is to further the influence of moral and spiritual values within the film and television industries. This $50,000 prize is rewarded to the best, most spiritually uplifting screenplays, in the hope of creating a deeper spiritual awareness, a better understanding of the meaning of life, and a heightened quality of devotion of love, among others.

The $50,000 John Templeton Foundation Epiphany Prizes were created to encourage filmmakers and television producers to create movies and shows that help increase the understanding and love of God. The Epiphany Prizes are presented annually at the Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry.

For further information, go to www.movieguide-awards.com.

Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). Wooding is the co-host of the weekly radio show, "Window on the World" and was, for ten years a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC

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