Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Slow Updates Apology

Sorry for the snail's pace of updates here on the blog. Life has been very busy.

Recently our air-conditioner needed complete replacing. As mentioned earlier, our bathroom needed complete replacing. Dea then hurt her back (she's better now). Gabe has started travel ball again (that's 5 nights a week). DC has started college (loves it) and Gabe has started 7th grade home school (likes it).

I have been blogging a bit, over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog, where we've shared our first podcast of Basking in the Son as well as entries about faith struggles, script writing and capturing moments of inspiration.

We're finally near the very end of the negotiating process for distribution of Purgatory, USA. We hope to have the paperwork finalized in the next week or so.

This weekend some of us will be traveling down to Cocoa Beach for a baseball tournament. Being so busy has left little time for screenwriting, which is frustrating, but I hope to get back into the swing of things as soon as I hand off all of the deliverables to the distribution company.

So, I apologize for the slow blog entries.

And, finally, please pray for us for a special intention. There are some really strong, difficult moral challenges occurring in my extended family and it is taking its toll. Any divine assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Listen to My Interview!

I've known Jon Ashby online for 10 years. He ran a website a long time ago called REwind Video. It was THE hub for the microcinema revolution in the late 90's. Over the years Jon has continued his altruistic support approach to the low budget filmmaker and now runs a website called CommonFilm.org.

He was kind enough to interview me about our recent Club God award, Sonlight Pictures and our future project Forgiven. So, check it out at the links below...

Main Page - http://www.commonfilm.org

Direct link to Interview - http://www.commonfilm.org/media/podcasts/CFInterview-PeteBauer.mp3

Funny thing... having known Jon online for 10 years, this was the first time we actually spoke to each other. Amazing how technology has changed relationships and communication.

In any event, it was very kind of Jon to take the time to allow me to talk up Sonlight Pictures. Please check it out.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

DC Turns 16

Ahh, childhood.

As we move from being a child to being an adult it seems that every year or two there is some major event tied to your birthday.

13 - now officially a teenager.
15 - can get a driver's permit.
16 - can drive on your own.
17 - can see R rated movies
18 - can vote
21 - can legally drink

A short time ago my daughter turned 16. Since my daughter's 16th birthday coincided with the same year of my wife's 40th birthday, about a month ago we spent a day at Discovery Cove swimming with the dolphins.

It was a wonderful and relaxing time. We snorkled with enough schools of fish to create a large aquatic college, lazed around in a warm relaxing river and spent 1/2 hour with a dolphin name Tyler, who presented Dorothea with a Sweet 16 buoy.

Yesterday, however, was the actual anniversary date of my daughter's birth, so we, along with some of her close friends and relatives, went to Arigato's for dinner. We all had a wonderful time, despite the fact that our waitress had the personality of a doormat.

Afterwards we went home and devoured another of Dea's fine cake creations.

Dea has a knack for making wonderfully creative cakes. Over the years she has made a Frankenstein cake, a piano cake, a movie popcorn and drink cake, and a baseball cake.












This year she made a three layered, colorful, yet elegant cake with home made chocolate hearts attached around the bottom... 16 of them.



We finished off the evening by watching a very funny film called Noises Off. The 1992 movie is based on a play and stars Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, John Ritter, Christopher Reeve, Nicollete Sheridan, Mary Lou Henner and Deholm Elliot, among others. The film is about a play being put on and traveling around the country.

The first act shows the dress rehearsal and how the play is supposed to happen.

The second act is entirely behind the set and shows how the play and the relationships between the cast and crew has deteriorated over the months.

The third act again shows the play from the front and how complete anarchy has enveloped the performance.

It's one of D.C.'s favorite films and we've loved the it for a long time. There are two bad words that we always conveniently mute keeping it excessively tame by today's PG-13 rating. D.C. and I were concerned that it was more funny to us than others because of our love of movies and our experiences in theater.

Our fears quickly subsided as the group of D.C.'s friends laughed hysterically from beginning to end. We laughed so often and so loudly that Dea's parents took the movie home with them so they could see what the fun was all about.

Afterward the girls hunkered down around the dining room table for an extensive and humorous bout of girl talk.

The evening finally ended around 10:00 PM.

As I went to bed I could not believe my little girl was 16 years old. I remembered her birth, holding her in my arms, feeling her baby breath against my cheek. It all seems like it happened yesterday.

Amazing how time flies.

I'm just happy she had a memorable birthday to remember.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

The Da Vinci Hoax (2004)

When Michael Moore's documentary came out a few years ago criticizing the American health care system while extolling the virtues of the Cuban socialist health system, I got into an interesting discussion about the topic with a co-worker. At the end of the debate about the validity of Moore's work I asked my co-worker a simple question...

"Which is easier, making a film that shows American health system as vastly better than Cuba's or the other way around?"

My co-worker responded "That's easy, America's."

"Then you have to wonder the true intent of someone who does the opposite," I replied.

The same basic scrutiny can be used when looking at Dan Brown's work in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons with his attack on Christianity as a whole and the Catholic Church specifically.

My mother was scanning books at a bookstore up in Georgia and spied one of which she thought would have an interest to me. She was right.

The book is called The Da Vinci Hoax. It's a wonderful book that expertly dissects the massive misinformation abounding in the pages of Brown's work and, more importantly, discusses the drivers behind the author's attempts to undermine the world's greatest religion.

How much garbage is in Brown's book? Well, it takes almost 300 pages in Hoax to cover all of the areas of misinformation. That means there sure is a lot of garbage to clean up!

Brown states that his material is thoroughly researched and historically accurate. He also states that history is written by winners and can't be trusted. So... what, Dan? Are you saying I shouldn't trust your version of history either????

That's just one of the basic red lights that flash about his work.

While raising my children I have tried to instill in them the idea that they should take all of their family responsibility seriously, even the small tasks. I would say to them, "if I can't trust you to take out the garbage when you're supposed to, how can I trust you with something more important?"

The same holds true for researchers claiming to uncovered some hidden truth. Case and point... Brown repeatedly states that "the Vatican" was doing this and that in various parts of history. Unfortunately, many of these events occured prior to "the Vatican" even existing. He should have said "the Church" or "the Catholic Church." But he didn't. Not a big deal, perhaps, but I go back to the phrase, "if you can't get the simple things right, why should I trust you on the big things?" How hard is it to understand that the Church is an entity and the Vatican is a place?

Look Dan, I already understand it after writing one sentence. How did it slip through that enlightened mind of your's? Probably because you were uncovering the whole conspiracy behind the Church/Vatican trying to weed Mary Magdelene out of Church history by refusing to ackowlege her as the "true" Holy Grail.

There's a lot of simple problems with that theory, Dan. If the Church/Vatican wanted to eliminate MM from Church history they simple DON'T HAVE TO MENTION HER IN THEIR STORIES/GOSPELS! I don't believe MM was mentioned by non-Gospel writers, so if the apostles were so intimidated by her place in Church history, all they had to do was simply NOT TALK ABOUT HER.

Second point, Danny boy... you say MM and JC were married and had kids and that JC survived the crucifixion and the apostles covered it up, blah, blah, blah, I have to ask you another simple question... WHY?

Why would the apostles sacrifice their life so JC and MM could have children? What did they possibly have to gain? The Church was not a powerful empire, it was a group of a couple of hundred people who were at odds with the Romans, the Jews and the Gentiles. So, why would they do that? Please, inspire me with a simple, logical answer, Mr. Brown. Well, while you're mulling that over, I have a few more questions...

You really think JC survived the crucifixion? Did you not do ANY research on Roman crucifixions? Or Roman law? Or health care back then?

Lastly, Brown goes on and on about how Da Vinci's painting shows the true meaning of the "Holy Grail" claiming that John sitting next to Jesus in the Last Supper painting was actually MM. And that Peter's depiction of a knife near John's/MM's throat shows that the church wanted to "decpitate" MM's power.


Ugh... Dan, Dan, Dan. I go back to my America/Cuba example. Every credible art and church historian explains the imagery... John, the youngest, would not have a beard. Peter's knife is a visual precursor to his use of the sword in the Garden later in the evening. And the picture itself is supposed to be the moment after Jesus told them there was a betrayer in their midst.

But what about this missing "Grail" Dan would ask? Well, Dan, if you were to simply LOOK at the painting you would see that EVERYONE has a cup in front of them. There is no need for a Grail to be passed around. The Grail isn't missing. It isn't necessary!

That's just some of the "Hello, Danny B., time to get your head out of your anti-Christian buttocks!" you'll find in the many detailed pages of The Da Vinci Hoax.

So why would DB take material from sketchy sources to compile a "historically accurate" alternative view of Christianity?

Because it appears that Dan Brown is all about the Sacred Feminine. And that the masculine Church has apparently been suppressing it all of these centuries. It's all very new-ageish and uses extreme feminist wishlists and imaginary tales to convey the glory that is the Sacred Feminine.

So that's his intent. He tells us to ignore history while presenting his own version of it. He ignores long-standing credible research and embraces Gnostic and feminists views of deity and muddles it all together into a mishmash of elaborate poppycock called The Da Vinci Code. Ignore it at all costs.

I do, however, strongly suggest everyone read The Da Vinci Hoax. There is so much more information on the misinformation Brown spins about the Templars, the Priory of Sion, Constantine, the Crusades, the Inquisitions, Da Vinci's volume of work, his relationship with the Church, etc., etc.

The short of it is this... Brown is a very bad historian with an anti-Christian axe to grind, period. He should be mocked or ignored, but never taken seriously.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Club God Wins Bronze Lighthouse Award at the Faith Film Festival

We're very excited to announce that our short film Club God won the Bronze Lighthouse Award at the Faith Film Festival!

It is such a wonderful blessing to have our first project garner such an acknowledgment from the Christian film community. We could not have done it without the support of many, including the prayers from our Sonlight Pictures Angels community!

God is good!

Monday, June 29, 2009

Monday, June 15, 2009

Club God Online at the Faith Film Festival!

You can check out Club God at the Faith Film Festival website.

ClubGod-FaithFilmFestOnline

When they make voting available, please make sure and give us a vote for us.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Saturday, May 30, 2009

PUSA - Quick Take 2: Vanity

Here’s the second of three PUSA Quick Take vids.

This one is titled Vanity…


Thursday, May 28, 2009

PUSA - Quick Take 1: Reunion

For people who haven't seen the series, we've created some Quick Takes so they can understand the humor, style and production value.

The first one is called Reunion.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

New PUSA Trailer

I've posted this on Facebook, the Sonlight Pictures website and on the SLP blog... but not here. So, here it is :)



We'll be posting more marketing and behind-the-scenes vids soon.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Human Experience

Grassroots Films, the same company that made the amazing Fishers of Men film about being a priest, has released a trailer for one of their other films called The Human Experience.

It's amazing. Check it out.


Friday, May 15, 2009

Funny Star Trek Vids

Two funny videos in relation to the new Star Trek film...

The first compares Star Wars and Star Trek...



The second plays on the fact that Star Trek director, JJ Abrams, loves to use lens flares to augment the scenes... he actually had people standing off camera shooting flashlights into the camera while filming. In any event, this video shows what would happen if that were to have been done on the original series...

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Anti-Catholicism in Hollywood

Angels & Demons is coming out soon. Of course, its full of misrepresentations of Catholicism (big surprise there). Where Hollywood goes out of its way to equalize Muslim characters (one bad is countered with one good), no such courtesy is given to the big bad Catholic Church.

There's a great article about this at Christianity Today located here:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/news/2009/ishollywoodanticatholic.html?start=1

One of my favorite quotes from the article is as follows:

Rome's foes today "aren't debating transubstantiation, they're debating transgender," said Catholic film critic David DiCerto. "They aren't debating the real presence [of Christ] in the Eucharist, they're debating the real presence of humanity in the womb. It's much more the hot-button moral issues than the hot-button theological issues."

That's why we created Sonlight Pictures, to help bring a positive face to Catholics through positive portrayals of Catholic characters.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Club God - Screening at the Faith Film Festival

We’re very happy to announce that Club God will be airing in New York and online as part of the Faith Film Festival, sponsored by the NET television station in Brooklyn.

clubgod-screenshot08

Club God will air June 11th at 8:30 PM. The judged will pick the top 10 films and the fans will pick the top film of the festival.

You’ll be able to get more information on the Faith Film Festival website (which is currently under construction) at the following location: http://netny.net/faithfilmfestival

Keep checking back at our Sonlight Pictures Blog for updates.

Monday, April 06, 2009

SoulWow!

Very funny take off of the ShamWow commercials, this one is called SoulWow! and was done by a parish in Brooklyn to get people to come to confession.

Very well done. Take a look...


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Club God Gets Festive

We’re happy to announce that Club God has been accepted into the Faith Film Festival in New York. The films will be aired on cable television in the New York area and showcased on the festival’s website.

Congrats to the Club God cast and crew for their success.

Praise God!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Very Funny Christian Mockumentary

Over at Christianity Today I came across an article about an upcoming release of a mockumentary called Jesus People. It's made by evangelical Christians working in Hollywood making fun of themselves. You'll recognize a lot of the people. The story is about four people who start a kids dance Christian band. A Christian Spinal Tap so to speak.

The project first started out as a web series and apparently will be turned into a feature film. The web series is so very funny.

Please check it out. It's funny, funny stuff.

Below is Episode 1.


Friday, February 13, 2009

Five Years Ago... The Box Premieres

Five years ago this week we held the premiere of our DV feature The Box at the Clearwater Cinema Cafe. The place was packed and my nerves were frayed. From shooting to editing and re-editing I had seen the end product over 100 times... but this was the first time so many people, important people in my life, were going to partake of our little cinematic experiment.

I could scarcely watch.

It was a big event for me. I had finally completed a feature film... something I had set as a goal a decade earlier. The film definitely has the scars of being an ultra low-budget flick, but it was competent and entertaining, within its own limitations. It got very positive reviews, festival play and allowed me to feel like I was finally achieving dreams I had imagined as a child.

It took a lot of people to make The Box a reality. First, I was very fortunate to have Kyme help out as Producer and single-handedly will the project to completion. She had more contacts in more places than anyone I've ever known. She was indispensable.

One of the best parts of the experience was getting to work with a the very talented cast. Samantha Grahn (Lou), John Hill (JJ), Mike Rembis (Steve) and Dan Doyle (Dante). Plus, I got to work with Brian Shea and John Snell for the first time, both of whom ended up in Club God.

I also believe it was this film that sparked the acting bug in my daughter, who has since starred in Purgatory, USA and is attending a performing arts high school. She will be far more talented than I could ever conceive being. She is a natural. I am so proud of her work.

The premiere was also the event that started the Tompkin brothers quoting lines from the film back to me every time I see them. Over and over and over again. Even to this day they greet me with the line "every drop." Funny how something conjured up in my head over a year before the premiere would make such an impact and last to this day.

I can hardly believe five years has passed already. Part of me thinks that I should have accomplished more by now and the other part of me is amazed we've been able to create Sonlight Pictures and complete Club God and Purgatory, USA within the first year of existence.

The premiere night of The Box was a special night for so many professional and personal reasons. The best of which is that I got to spend that night with my family... brothers, sisters, wife, children and my parents. There is nothing more important to me than my family.

So many things have changed since then. All for the better.

I can't imagine what the next five years will bring.