by Jeremy Landes
For years I wanted to attend a film school to learn the art of visual storytelling. I kept pushing that dream aside because it seemed too expensive. I found that Create International (a ministry of YWAM) offered training, but the program I had my eye on presented yet another hurdle: I would have to travel overseas to attend, leaving my wife and kids for six weeks.
Then Create International announced a new Frontier Filmmaking Seminar Online (FFSO). This was a game-changer. I registered immediately. I now recommend it to almost everyone I meet who wants to share the gospel with unreached people groups.
The most rewarding experience of the class came from the assignment to create a short movie appropriate for the language and customs of another culture. A friend connected me with a young woman in Africa, Grace, who was already learning to make movies. We collaborated to produce a short film for an unreached group. She found the actors, costumes, props, and a good location to shoot a short script I wrote. She shot the film using only a smartphone! The story was a modern African version of Jesus’ story about a foolish rich man planning to build more wealth for himself and grow idle – not realizing his life was about to end. Here’s the film we made with English subtitles.
When national believers saw the film, two of them made new recordings to match the dialect of people they are reaching.
Many unreached people groups are oral learners and communicate through stories. As the world increasingly exchanges information through media, films provide a strategic means to communicate the good news into the cultural context of a people group. Videos can easily be shared, creating potential to reach extensively and quickly. The Frontier Filmmaking Seminar Online equips you with the skills needed to write, produce, shoot, and edit a gospel film fitted to the cultural context of a people group.
I’m not the only one excited about the program. Another graduate said: “I had fun from day one to our culmination as I also met various creative film buffs from all around the globe who have a heart for the lost and are zealous to utilize this art form to expand God’s kingdom. You will not just learn film, but you will be embracing the challenge to be involved in the ongoing work of God among the unreached.”
Another colleague who just took the class, is now translating the video lessons into Arabic with a vision to see films made that will transform North Africa.
I hope this training helps many teams communicate the gospel in creative ways. Create International wants national believers familiar with the language and culture of unreached people groups to be equipped to tell the good news of Jesus. For this reason, they offer substantial discounts and team rates. Consider encouraging a few national believers living in your context to learn from this class. Or what about a young person already making short movies with their phone?
The next Frontier Filmmaking Seminar Online begins September 28th. To get a feel for the content, watch a free example lesson from their Camera Basics course.
