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Author(s): Nate Clarke
This is NOT an exhaustive list of resources for further investigation into film and faith, but rather a starting point if you are interested in learning more about cinema and how it relates to your Christian experience.
Books about faith and film
- Hollywood Worldviews : Bob Godawa - A great primer for Christians who are beginning to look deeper into films. It helps the reader investigate the messages behind the stories that movies tell. There are some helpful discussions of films and a great overview of how different world views are communicated through film. Also check out Bob Godawa's web page: www.godawa.com
- Reel Spirituality : Robert Johnston - Another great starter book. This book investigates some of the historical interactions Christians have had with the movie industry, gives a good survey of how Christians currently interact with movies (similar to Niehbur's Christ and Culture material) and offers helpful input on responding to movies theologically.
Books about cinema
- Understanding Movies : Louis D. Gianetti - An in-depth examination of the intricacies of making films. This book (which is more like a text book) covers topics like photography, editing, acting, writing and so on. Having a good foundational understanding of the technical elements discussed in this book will help you appreciate the artistic messages that a film is trying to communicate.
- Making Movies Work : John Boorstin - Unlike Understanding Movies, this book does not cover the intricacies of film making, but rather more of the bigger picture forms that a film maker will draw upon to communicate his message. The author discusses the voyeur's eye, the vicarious eye and the visceral eye. Understanding how these forms are used by filmmakers will help you appreciate and understand the message of a movie with more clarity.
- The Great Movies : Roger Ebert - This book is NOT a "100 best films of all time." It is a collection of short essays on films that Roger Ebert feels are important, significant and have something to say. If you are looking to develop your film literacy, check out this book, watch a film a week for a year or two and after each film, read what Ebert has to say.
Web pages
There are so many web pages out there and unfortunately, a lot of it is garbage. Below are some that I think are useful.
- www.imdb.com - The internet movie data base is an essential resource for researching basic statistics on films, directors and actors.
- www.rottentomatoes.com - Besides imdb.com, this is the most useful movie web page — particularly in regards to film reviews. It compiles reviews from major publications and web pages and organizes them by film. You can then get an overall sense of what critics are saying about a given movie and then check out individual reviews.
- www.thefilmforum.com - "Christian conversation about the movies." This web site contains some good reviews and essays, but its true value lies in the forum where some really good (and open) discussion happens about faith and film.
- Looking closer - "Searching for truth, beauty, and meaning in the Arts." This site is written by Jeffrey Overstreet who does reviews for ChristianityToday.com. He also covers literature and music. His reviews are thoughtful, current and honest in their search for the divine in film.
- www.metaphilm.com - "We don't review movies, we interpret them." This page is not updated often, but there are often insightful and witty essays on various films or topics concerning cinema. Of particular note is this interesting essay on the Cathedral of Hollywood.
- www.moviemission.com - "MovieMission is dedicated to helping People of Faith view their relationship with Hollywood as a unique missionary opportunity." The best part of the page is the study guides on recent films. They do about one a month and could be a great tool for starting a movie discussion group with friends (both Christian and non) on campus.
Film Festivals
I would also recommend checking out film festivals in your area. Below are links to a couple of Christian film festivals as well as the local festival here in Madison, WI.
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