168 Hour Film Project

BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF NEARLY 900 BIBLE-BASED FILMS IN 12 YEARS, WE ARE A CATALYST FOR CHANGE FOR HOLLYWOOD AND ULTIMATELY, THE WORLD. WE WANT TO CHALLENGE THE EXISTING PERCEPTION OF CHRISTIAN ART, TO ACT AS A BEACON FOR WEARY CHRISTIANS AND TO DRAW OTHERS TO THE FAITH.THE PACE AND DIFFICULTY OF OUR SPEED FILMMAKING COMPETITION SHAPES INDIVIDUALS IN A VERY SHORT TIME, DRIVING THEM TOWARD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD OF GOD AND TOWARD MASTERY OF THEIR CRAFT.We grew significantly in size and scope in 2014.Here are some accomplishments and new directions from 2014: KidVids is a new entry category, short films, to teach valuable lessons to young children. From this has come an amazing, evangelistic film called Gift of Grace.The Popcorn Bridge program is dinner, a movie and the Gospel for low-income families! It was inspired by "Son of God" movie producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, who said that the film was for everyone. With our partners we created a bridge to this community.On March 16th, six buses picked up over 250 people from families in low income areas of Pasadena. We took them to a private screening of Son of God." On this day, they were treated like royalty. Providing popcorn, food and drinks told them that we cared and made it very memorable for these families. At the state of the art Pacific Theater in the Americana Mall, they were the stars.After the film, the invitation was given to follow Jesus. One fifth of the audience decided to do so.Our partners were Stephen and Linda Tavani and Ceasar Cano of WOW International, Harlan Redmond, Director of Harambee Ministries, Community Clergy Coalition (CCC), Pasadena Church and Lake Avenue Church.Many met Jesus for the first time and one hundred Bibles were given away. We have published 10 Easy Steps to Building a Popcorn Bridge in Your Community.168 Chapter Meetings promote community. The San Diego pilot program is flourishing.The Best Scripts from our Screenwriting Contest are offered to student filmmakers, who can greatly accelerate their education by focusing on making a great story.At this years 168 Film Festival (Sept. 12-13, 2014), we showed all of the wonderfully diverse film submissions from around the world, and we added some new programming:The September 2014 168KIDS program included a kid-friendly screening block, a Red Carpet celebration, with stars like Nathan Kress from iCarly, games, snacks and photo opportunities as well as a discussion for mom and dad called Your Child and Hollywood. Our partner, Union Rescue Mission helped us offer this program to low-income kids for free. The September 2014 168 Media Forum was an open forum to discuss current opportunities for faith-based media. Pastors and Hollywood Producers discussed a partnership to "Capitalize on 'The Year of the Christian Film." We're inviting the church back to Hollywood, and that could be a real game changer.Featured festival guests included 4-time Emmy winner, Michael Learned from The Waltons, Kelsey Scott from 12 Years a Slave, Max Gail from Barney Miller and Sean McNamara, director of Soul Surfer.