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Film

Faith in her film

God and family direct this young auteur, who turns her belief and camera into a Christian film contender.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published September 29, 2006

	[Times photo: Bob Croslin]
	Aspiring filmmaker Katie Collins of Lutz was exposed to some Christian-based films made by children by her parents, John and Kristi Collins.
	While Kenny Strawn operates the camera and Roshie Jones holds the boom, Katie Collins watches in the monitor as Emily Bush and Kaylin Goskie perform a scene from her Unexpected News.

LUTZ

Like many independent filmmakers, Katie Collins was working on short time and a budget making a shoestring look fat.

Three days of shooting were all she had, and not much remained of the $1,500 earmarked for her short movie, Unexpected News, a story of friends connected by a Bible.

Now Katie was getting unwanted news from a video monitor.

She expected a simple shot through a kitchen toward another room. The cinematographer tried something arty.

"What are you guys doing? This is not what we discussed," she politely but firmly told the cameraman. He quickly surrendered yet couldn't resist grinning at her gumption.

Katie Collins is 9 years old.

* * *

Katie says she didn't make the decision to make a movie. She gives all the credit to God.

Sure, her Baptist parents planted the seed by showing her selections from the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, some produced by children near her age. In its third year, the festival is among a handful of U.S. showcases that, along with the Internet, are giving new outlets to grass roots, faith-based cinema.

Katie is one of the youngest filmmakers answering the call for movies reflecting Christian values.

"This year I really wanted to make one," Katie said, in a sing-song cadence that makes her every few words sound inquisitive. "So I went and prayed about it and God told me to make one."

How does God greenlight a movie? Katie said she didn't hear him say anything. She just prayed and she knew.

Seated at their dining room table for an interview, John and Kristi Collins smile at their daughter, who is only a little older than their vow, eight years ago, to lead lives that are more Christian, less secular.

The Collins' lakefront Lutz home is close to Idlewild Baptist Church, where they worship twice a week. Their home also is where Katie and 8-year-old brother Sam are schooled by their mother, and it is headquarters for John's corporate meeting design business. Without cable or satellite television, or much taste for network shows, they spend evenings reading, playing games and watching carefully vetted videos.

"Things I don't find appropriate for my children to watch, I don't watch," John says. "That really limits the choices coming out of Hollywood."

That's why Unexpected News is important to him - not as a stage parent, but as a believer that the entertainment world can change.

"We want both Katie and Sam to be culture changers," John says. "There's so much garbage out there that's called entertainment these days. Why can't it be a sweet, innocent film that has a feel-good story to it?"

Katie puts it in more pragmatic terms: "The man who, like, owns the (San Antonio) festival says . . . unless we win back Hollywood we can never have a full Christlike community. We have to win back Hollywood before we can win back America and eventually, hopefully, the world."

* * *

Doug Phillips founded the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival but doesn't own it. He doesn't really want to take over Hollywood.

He does, however, share Katie's zeal for spreading the Gospel through cinema.

"We don't want to express our concern over what's coming out of Hollywood by cursing the darkness, but actually lighting a candle of hope," Phillips said in a telephone interview.

Blockbuster box office returns for 2004's The Passion of the Christ didn't spark the conversion to faith-based film some hoped for. Since then, the only Christian-themed movie that's been a box office hit is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, although director Catherine Hardwicke's The Nativity Story should find a receptive holiday audience in December.

Meanwhile, independently pro- duced spiritual films such as Facing the Giants, One Night with the King and Unidentified struggle for theater space and public attention.

"There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of budding filmmakers whose desires and goals are to affect the culture with their faith in the lord Jesus Christ and to do that through film," Philips said.

More than 130 filmmakers including Katie entered movies in Phillips' festival this year. Nearly 20 percent are in the youth competition for ages 8 to 20. All were encouraged to follow the festival's "10 commandments."

Some rules are adapted from Moses' stone tablets: Don't plagiarize, no false idols or taking the lord's name in vain. Others echo conservative Christian attitudes on creationism and sexuality. There's this: "Films which seek to be 'relevant' by glorifying the spirit of individualism which dominates the modern youth culture are discouraged."

Or the 10th that states in part: "We want to strongly discourage the portrayal of all forms of immodest or inappropriate dress."

That one had Katie concerned.

In the opening scene of Katie's film, actor Nancy Daines, 11, wears a long, flowery skirt and matching blouse revealing her shoulders to mid back. One shot lasting perhaps 15 seconds. Nobody thought it inappropriate until it was too late to change.

"(The festival) might not even accept (the movie) because they are very modest people," Katie said, fretting, as she waited to hear from the festival. Faith kept her optimistic, even if her work were to be rejected.

"Because then," she said, "we'll know God had me make it for another purpose."

* * *

Unexpected News is what one might expect from a smart, pious 9-year-old: pure and focused.

Two girls, Nancy and Emily (Emily Bush), expect to spend summer vacation playing until discovering that Emily is moving to Chicago. Nancy hosts a going-away party and presents Emily with a gift, her own baptism Bible and a promise they'll meet again in heaven.

Emily, who isn't a churchgoer, doesn't get the message at first. Her change of heart begins by accepting the Bible, which she returns to Nancy after she has found a church to join. Losing a playmate, gaining faith, it's all unexpected for children, hence the title.

Katie spent two weeks writing the screenplay with minimal guidance from her mother. On her father's advice she drew 111 storyboards on 3-by-5 index cards, imagining how certain shots should look. Next she created an animatic version, holding a video camera while reading the lines and turning the cards on cue. The animatic and the movie each run nearly 16 minutes.

Dad had some necessary audio and video equipment, and two friends, Roshie Jones and Kenny Strawn, with more gear and the know-how to use it.

Three days in July were set aside for principal photography at a house loaned by a neighbor with the kind of lawn and porch Katie needed. A makeshift Steadicam stabilizer and dolly were built from skateboards and PVC piping. Weeks of post-production tweaking followed, capped by Jones and Strawn's associate Chris Moriarty laying down a twinkly musical score.

Days before hearing from San Antonio's festival jury, Katie's mom talked about what her daughter taught her.

"It taught me that she has been created with her own purpose. God has created her for a purpose and a plan and it's not mine. Whether I agreed with her or not, I had to just get out of the way and let her do what she wanted to do."

Nobody mentions the festival's stance on youthful individualism.

* * *

Last week, John Collins got an e-mail from San Antonio. He saved it for Katie to open. Even with the wardrobe malfunction, Unexpected News was accepted, one of 50 semifinalists.

Also last week, she found out the film was accepted by San Francisco's What You See Is What You Get, another showcase for Christian films.

John said Katie celebrated her good news by thanking God for the chance to share her faith through her movie.

"That's more important to me than the festivals or awards," Katie said earlier, "because if people don't go to heaven then they'll go to hell."

Steve Persall can be reached at (727) 8893-8365 or persall@sptimes.com.

ON THE WEB

www.unexpectednews.com: Katie Collins' Web page under construction. www.independent christianfilms.com: The San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

www.visionforum.com: Doug Phillips regularly blogs on the culture clash from a conservative Christian point of view.

www.wysiwygfilmworks. com: The What You See Is What You Get Film Festival in San Francisco.

[Last modified September 28, 2006, 12:31:37]