It was great to catch up withLincoln Fenner for lunch recently, a local film maker and director of Creation Box Films.
While we actually caught up on .acom business it was interesting hearing some of his involvement in the film industry, albeit in his ‘spare’ time.
An interesting question we tossed around was what it means to be a Christian in the film making business. I guess the question was along the lines of ‘how does faith impact the way a person creates and directs a film, perhaps even writes a script?’
We discussed the of issues of nudity, sexuality, language and how it would feel to shoot a sex scene or a nudie scene, or to have strong language in a film. We didn’t discuss how it would feel to shoot a domestic abuse scene or a bank robbery, or a corporate swindle…
Its an interesting question for Christian artists. To what extent do we let our art reflect the world we live in and to what extent do we eliminate profanity, nudity, sexual activity etc. And why take these out, but not other illegal activity?
Is a film ‘true to life’ if there are none of the things we encounter in everyday life?
Of should we be trying to depict a different reality that is also possible?
I could imagine writing a novel with some of these elements present more easily than I could imagine directing a film. But is it really any different? What if the novel is successful and someone wants to make a movie out of it?…
What do you think?
Personally I would choose to err on the side of ‘keeping it real’, rather than on the side of eliminating the nasties.