Finalists Announced! Christian Films Competing for $101,000 Grand Prize

November 26, 2008

• Eight Feature Film Finalists Announced
• Forty-two Short Film Semi-Finalists Announced for competition in over Seven Categories of Awards
• Samaritan Ministries, Production Hub, Total Living Network, and The NRB Network are just a few of our growing list of sponsors
• Register to Attend! Includes admittance to the Awards Ceremony and unveiling of the $101,000 Grand Prize Jubilee Award Winner

Come to the Christian Film Event of the Year for Families: The 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival — Fifty Films on Multiple Screens

Join us this year for the Christian Filmmakers Academy and the Fifth Annual San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and Jubilee Awards. The January 8-10, 2009 event (just seven weeks away) will be held in the beautiful, 2,500-seat Lila Cockrell Theatre at the Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. Gather with like-minded families, filmmakers, and Christian culture changers for a time of tremendous encouragement and vision. Meet the filmmakers and actors behind some of the most important films coming out of the independent Christian film movement. Listen to world-view challenging messages designed to equip you to enhance your biblical understanding of films.

Rigorous Judging Standards Raise the Bar for Christian Films

Vision Forum Ministries is pleased to announce the feature finalists for the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival Jubilee Awards. Each of these films will compete for category awards, for the Audience Choice Award, and for the largest single film festival grand prize of its kind in America — the $101,000 Best of Festival Jubilee Award.

There were 250 submissions to this year’s festival, accounting for tens of millions of dollars worth of collective production budgets. These films competed for what became fifty spaces as feature finalists and semi-finalists in categories like documentary and film short. The films were judged and selected based on sound biblical worldview, theological accuracy, holiness in presentation, production values, quality of directing, script, acting, editing, level of difficulty, wise and creative use of available technological resources, and consistency with film festival objectives and guidelines.

Announcing Eight Culture-Challenging Feature Finalists

This year, the SAICFF received fifty feature film submissions. But of the fifty features submitted for the 2009 SAICFF, only eight were selected as finalists. This year’s finalists reflect the depth and diversity of films coming out of the independent Christian film movement.

The theatrical release Fireproof masterfully challenges men and women to renew their marriage covenants. Expelled — No Intelligence Allowed is a timely and brilliant exposure of the intolerance and religious devotion of the atheist community of Marxists committed to foisting the Theory of Evolution on the American academic community. Pendragon is an epic historical adventure that communicates the message of biblical honor in the context of an Arthurian legend.

Other feature finalists include The Widow’s Might, a powerful comedic drama that reveals the importance of the biblical family, care for widows, and the problem with statism. Throw a Few Things on the Ground is a foreign film from Togo that will expose American audiences to the very real antithesis between Christianity and fetishism in the context of one boy’s journey from idolatry to Christ. The Sound of a Dirt Road tells the tale of love, honor, and generational faithfulness in the context of a lonely, but faithful farmer and his small town country church. Finally, Pilgrim’s Progress is a modern retelling of the classic story of true commitment to Christ.

More Announcements to Follow

With the new Feature Film category this year showing some powerful movies, the lineup of films for competition and the breadth of quality far surpasses previous competitions. Come listen to paradigm-challenging messages and watch a new generation of independent Christian family films. From hard-hitting documentaries and gripping narratives, to cute movies from young filmmakers and various lectures and addresses by our featured speakers — the weekend will be an incredible family experience. Visit here to review all the films, find out about the entertainers, and view the schedule (schedule coming soon). Register now to plan your film festival experience!

Look for other soon-to-be-released announcements about a World Premiere Screening event, special guest actor appearances, and other exciting developments that will be taking place at the Film Festival — all a part of the registration package available to attendees of the event!

Announcing the 2009 Short Film Semi-Finalists

Attendees to the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film will have the opportunity to view forty-two semi-finalist films competing in multiple categories. These semi-finalists competing are a notch above any past year category selections and are each selected after hundreds of hours of review, analysis, and prayer. Each film is certain to provide the attendees of the 2009 Festival with an incredible weekend of viewing, reflection, insight, laughter, tears, and thanksgiving to God as they enjoy the selections.

In the stellar Documentary category, view detailed professional films such as An American Adventure, an inspirational high-definition film tracing the life of 82-year-old Jimmy Gentry through the Great Depression, his service in WWII, and his experiences liberating the Dachau concentration camp. Enjoy seeing Noah’s Ark: Thinking Outside the Box, or maybe Binding Faith, a film about Christian persecution taking place in India. These along with nine other quality films round out the competition for Best Documentary.

The Dramatic Film Short competition will feature such films as Hidden Treasure, The Other Son, and The Widow and the Judge — all modern day parables that bring the Bible stories to life in a new way. Watch movies such as Dad, the Hero in the Wild, Wild West and Pencil Town — both humorous takes on old tales and films that force questions of faith and hard life-altering decision in movies such as Coppelius and Dialtone. These Dramatic Film Shorts, along with eleven other semi-finalists, will be competing for the prized Jubilee category award.

Enjoy relaxing with your family, passing the popcorn, and laughing together at the antics and efforts of our young filmmaker submissions as they learn the basics and provide hours of entertainment with movies such as Adventurous Tails: Sugar, a delightful adventure about respect and having a thankful attitude, or maybe A Viking Worth Liking, a Lego-mation short full of creativity. These and nine other fun-filled Young Filmmakers movies will compete for this special award.

Special Awards will also be handed out for Best Trailer, Best Film Treatment, and Best Original Score.

A $101,000 Grand Prize Event

At the closing ceremonies, the Jubilee Awards for Christian film shorts will be presented for the Best Feature Film, Best Narrative, Best Documentary, along with other Special Awards for Best Trailer, Best Film Treatment, Best Young Filmmaker, the ever-popular Audience Choice Award, and Best Original Score.

The grand finale of the event will be the unveiling of the long-awaited Best of Festival Jubilee Award. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of a private foundation who is committed to the ongoing growth and development of the SAICFF and Christian young filmmakers, the “Best of Festival” winner will also take home an award check for $101,000. It will truly be a night to remember. Make plans to attend.

Sign Up Now and Reserve Your Tickets

The San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival has been described by some as America’s premiere Christian film festival. Our mission is not only to raise the bar for the goals and execution for Christian filmmaking and to cultivate an independent movement which will challenge the Hollywood leviathan’s monopolistic stranglehold on culture, but to do so with excellence. Be sure to visit the film festival site to read up on all of the latest.

Also available is a list of recommended hotels, maps of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, local transportation guides, and area attractions. For more information, click here.

Just as William Barret Travis’s 1836 call to arms in front of the Alamo sparked the cause of Texas independence, the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival has, by God’s grace, drawn a line in the sand for Christian filmmakers. We invite you to join us, just yards away from the Alamo of 1836, as we rally to proclaim the name of Christ in the arena of film at the fifth annual San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and Jubilee Awards. With the festival only seven weeks away, we encourage you to sign up for this incredible event soon!

Register for the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors

The San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival is a festival of hope — and it is growing! After just a few years, the SAICFF and Jubilee Awards have already become known around the world for the extreme level of professionalism and excellence — a standard that any successful business would want to put their name by and support. To maintain this level of excellence, we need sponsor partners and donors. With your help, the SAICFF will continue to set the stage for rewarding and underwriting independent filmmakers. Visit here to find out more on how you can help support this event. All donations and sponsorships are greatly appreciated.