Glocal Christianity

Film and Faith in Africa

I was just reading about the booming Nigerian film industry known as Nollywood. Not only has Nollywood recently surpassed Hollywood in film production, most Nigerian films are spiritual in nature and over 20% are Christian, making Nigeria the Christian Movie Capital of the World.

The gospel is not a weapon

"This is not a weapon! You idiot"

Easter Videos

From Faith Visuals: Top 10 NEW Easter Videos - The best new media for this significant holiday season. These are all well produced. My favourites I think are "Mystery" and "A Simple Message of Hope". 

Tropfest 2008 - Mankind Is No Island

Earlier this evening my Dad flicked me this video which I think you'll want to see. Winner of the 2008 Tropfest short film festival, its called "Mankind Is No Island" and, according to the producer Jason van Genderen, was shot entirely on cell phone on the streets of New York and Sydney. I won't say any more, see it for yourself.

Hell Boy II: The Golden Army

Came across the animated trailer for Hell Boy II via Jason at Wild Hunt Blog and found more trailers here. The film is directed and co-written by "Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo del Toro. That alone makes it a must see for me. But I am very interested in seeing how they mesh the hell and elven mythologies together.

Dan Brown's Angels and Demons

In the news yesterday: "The Italian Catholic church has refused to let a new movie based on a Dan Brown novel be filmed in churches in Rome after the author's The Da Vinci Code novel and film outraged the Vatican." Now the question of course is should the Vatican feel obliged to open its doors for Angels and Demons?

I Am Legend

Being a Vampire flick fan from way back I was interested in Christianity Today's recent review of I Am Legend. Staring  Will Smith, this latest remake of the 1954 horror novella by Richard Matheson is being released in Sydney on January 3rd, and according to Christianity Today, contains some "jarring" God references that raise questions on the relationship between science and spirituality. I expect I'll be seeing it in due course in January.

For more, go to the full review of I Am Legend.

Born Again Battlestar

I was surfing around this evening and noted an announcement that Battlestar Galactica will be back for a fourth season. Why should I bother mentioning this on a blog focussed on religious pluralism? Only because Battlestar Galactica is one of the most religiously focussed serials currently on TV. Not convinced? There is a three part article at beliefnet for those interested in the deeper themes permeating the series.

Faith as an Alien Realm

Interesting interview going on with Douglas Cowan on Sacred Terror at TheoFantastique (see part I and II).

That gives me a wonderful pretext for posting this beauty entitled "Jesus is a Fucking Alien." Not a sentiment I share with the artist obviously but certainly a raw comment on how many experience Christianity, Christ and Christians.

What I find interesting is the path Cowan offers us, to explore the sacred through the horrific and alien in movies and other media. What do our fears and terrors reveal about us? How does exploring them help us to get under our skins? [click to enlarge]

Reel Redemption

I was just over at Christianity Today scanning their list of "The 10 Most Redeeming Films of 2006." As it turns out I haven't seen a single one of them. I have however been overloaded on Wiggles videos of late. Heeelp!

Blog of Kells

Neo-Celtic Anime? Check out the Blog of Kells.