Moving Images and New Horizons
Our Obligation as Catholic and Christian Filmmakers

by Antonio Soave

Editor’s Note: This talk was delivered at the “Media & Faith Conference” on the campus of the Franciscan University of Steubenville on April 5, 2008.

As we all know, we are living in a whole new age—an age that is defined by moving images. Now, more than at any other point in history, we have a unique opportunity to spread a positive message through the media. In fact, I would venture to say that we have an obligation to spread a positive message through the media, and we need to use each and every resource that is available to us in the world today. Just as disturbing as some images and uses are, it is equally enticing in terms of the ability to say what we have to say through the very same outlets. Therefore, instead of us complaining about the evils of the media, we can—most certainly—take advantage of it and use it for all the wonderful and beneficial ways that we can imagine.

Pope John Paul II was way ahead of his time when he said, “If it didn’t happen on television, it didn’t happen at all.” I would argue that he was one of the most media savvy popes of our time, advocating the dissemination of good and valuable news and images so that the world could be influenced positively.

Nevertheless, the negative images are indeed disturbing. From sexual images that are becoming more and more prevalent in our society and that are already “old hat” in Europe, to violence and destruction on the airwaves that influence young people improperly, we have a lot to counter in terms of getting out our message. But this is the opportunity for us to unite and to know that we can make an enormous difference—on a macro scale—with how and what we place on the web and on television, and through the numerous other outlets that exist and are emerging.

Conviction Counts

When we started Capistrano Films nearly a decade ago, my colleagues in Los Angeles laughed at me, saying, “Nobody will buy this stuff; it is sex and violence that sells.” But we persisted through very, very hard and challenging times. We had conviction, not because we were better or holier than others, but because we felt a very basic and fundamental need to put out good stuff. Because visual images have such an incredible influence on us and on society as a whole, I thought that this was a great way to say something good and to leave a good and positive image in someone’s mind.

We all know what this means. On the one hand, we have negative visual images that have bombarded our psyche, whether through diabolic films such as The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the various Nightmares on Elm Street, or through the more uplifting and inspirational films such as Forrest Gump, Driving Miss Daisy or The Passion of the Christ. If you were brave enough to view some of the negative and demonic films like The Omen, you were probably haunted by these images for years and years. So it is important to note there is relatively no validity to the statement that negative images on screen do not negatively affect people. This, simply put, is hogwash.

Just examine some of the recent mass murders in high schools and colleges, and review the testimonials surrounding these cases. Many of the perpetrators cite images on television, on the Internet, and in video games as influential factors in their decisions to “magnify and glorify” themselves by using violence. The immediate gratification they get when pressing a button on a video game provides them with a false sense of positive feedback and satisfaction. I would even venture to say that it often provides them with a false sense of empowerment. And, of course, this is just the beginning.

Emphasizing the Positive

With everything from podcasting to streaming video, and from burn-on-demand to video-on-demand, we have a barrage of new activity. One can virtually access just about any image and/or prompt just about any emotion by the push of a button. This is—as we have said—both positive and negative.

In 1998, we had a dream to create a positive show for children and teens and to use sports as a backdrop. At the time, we had a soccer venture with the Walt Disney World Resort and Disney’s Wide World of Sports. We filmed a pilot for this show in both Orlando, Florida, and Pasadena, California—inside Disney’s Wide World of Sports and inside the Rose Bowl Stadium. At that time we named the pilot “Disney’s Saturday Morning Soccer.” We had met with the powers that be at both Disney and Coca-Cola—one of Disney’s primary partners at the time—and we were set to pitch it to the Disney Channel.

We thought we had a winner. But once we sat down with the Disney Channel, they systematically cast the idea aside as too idealistic and not attractive enough, as a concept, to viewers within their category. They chose to go the route of live action dramas that brought children closer and closer to their teenage feelings and tendencies, often encouraging children and young teens—through these images—to take on personas that were more adult-like. These were images that encouraged everything from gossip to detraction, and from initial promiscuity to relativism.

Now, this does not mean that Disney or other companies such as Nickelodeon do not put out positive programs. They do. It’s just that they seem more apt to push kids into the consumer stages of their lives earlier and earlier and make them adults at a younger and younger age by showing images that often work in a subliminal fashion. We need to be careful when shows like SpongeBob Squarepants define the day, rather than more positive, inspirational, uplifting and/or spiritual programs. And this is not only the case with children and teens; these images most certainly impact us as adults, sometimes even more profoundly than children—whether we care to acknowledge it or not.

Who’s Behind the Screen?

Let me note one important thing: The entertainment business in Hollywood, just like any other industry, skews its findings so as to justify where it thinks it needs and wants itself to be. The sort of programs that are selected are often a reflection of the few programming directors who lead divergent lifestyles and want—in their own ways—to push their own personal agendas. This, in turn, has the airwaves putting on more and more shows that advance the concepts and notions of alternative lifestyles. They are not necessarily a reflection of what America wants. However—and here is the primary point—we are often told and made to believe that it is the way things are, that this is what people desire, and that we need to be tolerant. That is simply not true.

We are in a difficult position when the networks cancel a show like Touched by an Angel despite the public outcry for this kind of programming but encourage other shows that openly and blatantly encourage bad and deviant behavior, such as the vast majority of reality programs that are on networks such as VH1, MTV, Logo, and the many others. But the point is that we should not accept what they are saying when they use Nielsen Ratings that supposedly support their position, or when they claim that the public simply is not interested in this sort of material. Again, this simply is not true. The evidence is often hidden or skewed, and this is the same boloney that is fed to advertisers—some advertisers that would rather support good and positive programming rather than “bad stuff” that makes their own children do things that are destructive in nature.

Working for Peace

Getting back to our show The Soccer Academy. We insisted that a show that promoted global peace through greater cultural understanding was important. We insisted that a show that could use a world sport such as soccer as a backdrop to unite children and teens around the globe was viable. So, we went back to the drawing board. We raised money and we started filming—with whatever resources we could scrounge up. We contacted every soccer organization in every country we knew and we kept pushing the agenda. Very often we were on the verge of bankruptcy with this show, but we kept pushing.

Finally, we began getting invitations from some of the most surprising countries out there—Syria, Jordan, Israel, and the Cayman Islands. We would strike deals with them whereby we would work for free so long as they would pick up some of the below-the-line costs such as filming, film crews, hotels, and meals. As a result, we took to the road.

We are still not out of the red and we are still working hard on this show. However, today we have 13 episodes in the can, with another five in editing. We have been on the air for over five years. We are on the second digital cable channel on a variety of ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates in 16 major cities in the United States and we are also broadcast in 22 countries around the globe. We have not given up and our show is growing. By the grace and mercy of God, we have filmed extraordinary, peace-building episodes in Syria, Jordan, Israel, Cayman, Italy, Spain, and other countries. Today—against what the networks have said—we are helping to spread peace and understanding to hundreds of thousands of children and their families every Saturday morning at 8 a.m. And, God willing, we will continue to do so.

Pressing Forward

As a company, we at Capistrano have also been fighting the good fight on the feature fi1m and documentary side. We have had several uplifting, inspirational and/or spiritual films in development for over a decade. Some, such as Fate Did Not Let Me Go, a moving holocaust story about a mother’s undying love for her son narrated by Martin Sheen and Liv Ullman, have had some degree of success. It was aired consistently on PBS for over three years. When reported on in the New York media, that report was the recipient of an Emmy.

Others, such as The Fifth Mountain, a biblically inspired epic about the prophet Elijah, and Ice Time, about reconciliation between a father and son in an ethnic Italian family, have been met with more resistance. Still, we continue to battle each and every day to make these films come to fruition. With respect to Ice Time we were able to make both a three-minute marketing trailer and a 14-minute collection of scenes, and we are hoping to complete filming by this winter. The Fifth Mountain, a larger-budget epic, is just now getting some of the attention it deserves. It is based on a book by a popular Brazilian author, Paulo Coerho, who also wrote The Alchemist, in development by Warner Brothers and Laurence Fishburne. But the road is very difficult and we are in constant need of your prayers. So please, do pray for us and our film ministry.

In essence, we have a unique opportunity in today’s world. We have the opportunity to unite under the banner of God’s saving grace and divinity, and together we can and will make a difference. But because good filmmaking requires money and other valuable resources, we need to pool our resources and work together—in a way that ensures that we can continue to release wonderful and artistic films such as The Passion of the Christ, one of the highest grossing films of all time and one that will go on for severa1 years to come in terms of a revenue generator. We have a need to encourage and support each other, and to pray constantly for good and positive media to come to fruition.

We need to continue to tell good stories and we need to do it in a way that is artistically sound. You know, the great preacher Fr. John Corapi says that Catholics and other Christians should be the very best artisans, craftsmen, artists, and business people. This is so because everything we do is for God; we do everything with God, trusting God, and for God. So everything we do is with the love and guiding grace of the Father.

A picture literally takes the place of a thousand words. This is so whether it is the crucifixion of our Savior on the Cross in The Passion of the Christ, or the birth of Our Lord in The Nativity.

Thank you, God bless you, and please pray for us.

Antonio Soave is a writer, actor, producer, and television host. He is probably best known as the screenwriter of The Fifth Mountain, an upcoming project based on a book by world-renowned author, Paulo Coelho. Antonio has a BA in International Studies from The American University in Washington, D.C., and a Juris Doctor from the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University. He has also completed an LLM (Masters of Law) in International Law at the University of San Diego.

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