On Oscar Weekend, NPR Highlights Rival Christian Film Movement and Awards Ceremony

by Staff
February 24, 2009

SAN ANTONIO, (christiansunite.com) -- As millions of viewers tuned into the 81st Academy Awards this last weekend where they watched perversion rewarded and advanced, National Public Radio (NPR) reported on a film movement and awards ceremony with a drastically different agenda -- the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF) and Jubilee Awards -- in a 7-minute feature story broadcast to a listening audience of more than six million.

"The distinction between Hollywood's toxic culture of death and the burgeoning Christian film movement of life was highlighted in bold this weekend," noted Doug Phillips, founder of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

"On the one hand, the world watched as Sean Penn accepted the 'Best Male Actor' award by the Academy for his portrayal of homosexual activist Harvey Milk, even as Kate Winslet received the 'Best Female Actor' trophy for her performance in 'The Reader,' a pornographic story about a female Nazi war criminal seducing a fifteen-year-old boy.

"On the other hand, hours before the Oscars commenced, NPR broadcast a feature story highlighting the efforts of the SAICFF to showcase and reward hopeful films that honor Christ -- films made completely outside Hollywood."

NPR Religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty opened her story, entitled "Christian Filmmakers Creating an Industry of Faith," with this probing question: "What was the biggest grossing independent film in 2008? No, not 'Slumdog Millionaire.' Not 'Milk.' It was a movie you've probably never heard of."

Describing the efforts of the SAICFF, Hagerty went on to observe: "As Hollywood crowns its favorite movies and actors at the Oscars on Sunday, another group is trying to create a rival movie industry. Fed up with sex and violence in mainstream entertainment, conservative Christians are turning out their own films. And they've made surprising inroads."

Phillips remarked: "Those who tuned in to this years' Academy Awards watched as Oscar winners Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn promoted homosexual political activism and encouraged teenagers to pursue a homosexual lifestyle as they accepted their awards from the Academy for the role that they played in 'Milk.'

"Those who attended our recent festival saw films rewarded that build up rather than tear down the family -- independent films such as 'Fireproof' that outsold 'Milk' in theaters by a wide margin.

Continued Phillips: "Even as Hollywood fails, the Christian filmmaking is prevailing in exalting virtue, and the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival is helping to lead the way in this important cultural reformation in the arts. And we are thankful that NPR has highlighted this important trend."

To listen to the NPR story, "Christian Filmmakers Creating an Industry of Faith" visit: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php? storyId=100927647.

To learn more about the work of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival with its $101,000 Grand Prize Award -- the single-largest cash prize given by any film festival in the US -- visit www.independentchristianfilms.com.