We're going to have our own filmmakers that can tell great stories, produce tremendous films, but they're going to be doing it with a Christian world view, and they're not going to be embarrassed about that.' 'We're going to have our own Steven Spielbergs. 'I think we're going to see significant production houses that will be funding $200 million films done by Christians,' he predicts. Phillips says this is only the beginning. This festival is putting up a $101,000 top prize - the largest in the United States, and larger than Cannes or Sundance - to help them get there. If Christians want to compete in the world of ideas, he says, they have to make great movies.

The truth of the matter is, it is the media the people take in which are shaping and forming ideas.' 'I wish I could tell you the biggest single influence were churches, but that regretfully is not the case. 'What is the single biggest influence on our families?' he asks. He says he started the film festival five years ago when he realized that Christians were losing the hearts and minds of the young. Instead of just complaining about sex and violence, Phillips says, Christians must make films that reflect their own values. 'We're here to send a message to the world that we no longer want our children immersed in toxic media which is in opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ,' he announced to the cheering crowd. The lights had hardly dimmed for opening ceremonies when Doug Philips, the festival's organizer, told the audience they were drawing a battle line in the culture wars. This crowd was markedly un-Hollywood, the men wearing jeans and Polo shirts, the women in high necklines and low hems.

It was a movie you've probably never heard of.įireproof, starring former teen idol Kirk Cameron, was all the talk of some 2,000 Christian movie fans gathering at the San Antonio (Texas) Independent Christian Film Festival in January. If you don't believe us, take this quiz: What was the biggest grossing independent film in 2008? No, not Slumdog Millionaire.

Fed up with sex and violence in mainstream entertainment, conservative Christians are turning out their own films. As Hollywood crowns its favorite movies and actors at the Oscars on Sunday, another group is trying to create a rival movie industry.

How did they film fireproof the movie