$101,000 Grand Prize Best of Festival award winner!
Congratulations to Curtis Bowers and his family and team for winning the biggest cash prize in independent filmmaking for Agenda: Grinding America Down - the SAICFF $101,000 Grand Prize Best of Festival award! We are so happy that this honorable statesman and patriot has achieved such acclaim at the festival when competing against many other great films, including many wonderful feature films.
Announcement
Agenda: Grinding America Down
will be promoted by
Freedom Film Distributors
and the
National Movie Night project
We're happy to announce that Freedom Film Distributors will be adding Agenda to our catalog and promoting the film through our nationwide network of distributors and through the National Movie Night project! Since this film is an important educational tool, we are excited to see the impact of a grassroots promotion effort will have on the film's popularity and overall distribution.
The worldwide premiere of the just-released documentary Divided was last night at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF). The film received a standing ovation at the end, and was followed by an on-stage discussion with producer Peter Bradrick (pictured below), Philip LeClerc, and the entire Divided documentary team.
Now it's your turn. Divided has partnered with Freedom Film Distributors' National Movie Night project to conduct a nationwide screening release the weekend of December 3-5, and we are looking to get as many people as possible to sign up as Movie Night Hosts to screen Divided across the country.
New Divided documentary to get nationwide screening through Freedom Film Distributors and new National Movie Night project
San Antonio, TX, 10/28/2010 — The brand new documentary film Divided, being premiered tonight during the opening day of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF), will be screened nationwide through National Movie Night, a project of Freedom Film Distributors. The producer, Peter Bradrick of the National Council of Family Integrated Churches, has announced he will partner with Freedom Film Distributors to promote and distribute the film nationwide through its grassroots network of independent distributors and through screenings of the film as part of the National Movie Night project. National Movie Night is designed to harness the energy of fans of family-oriented films by giving them a way to host movie nights for independently produced films in their communities.
Divided follows young Christian filmmaker Philip LeClerc on a revealing journey as he seeks answers to what has led his generation away from the church. Traveling across the country conducting research and interviewing church kids, youth ministry experts, evangelists, statisticians, social commentators, and pastors, Philip discovers the shockingly sinister roots of modern, age-segregated church programs, and equally shocking evidence that the pattern in the Bible for training future generations is at odds with modern church practices. For more info and to see the film trailer, visit: http://www.dividedthemovie.com.
Now in its sixth year, the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF) has established itself as the premiere Christian film festival, and gives away the largest single cash prize of any film festival in the US – secular or Christian. Each year a check for $101,000 is awarded to the Best of Festival Jubilee Award winner. One of the key components of its mission is "To facilitate the development of alternative and independent vehicles for producing and distributing films outside the Hollywood machine, which will build, bless, and benefit the American family." For more info, visit: http://www.saicff.org
The National Movie Night project was launched this week as one component of the strategy of Freedom Film Distributors to build the "alternative and independent vehicles" mentioned in the SAICFF mission. National Movie Night establishes a schedule of nationally coordinated movie nights that will focus promotion for a particular film in a defined date range. This will allow Freedom Film Distributors to leverage its national promotional campaigns through its Movie Night Hosts at the local level for the film screenings they are hosting. Movie Night Hosts will be provided with planning guidance and promotional tools to set up and promote their movie night, and with DVD packs to distribute to event attendees. The goal is to provide a conduit for grassroots activism to promote independently produced family-friendly films to diverse audiences all around the country. For more info, visit: http://nationalmovienight.com
Company History
Freedom Film Distributors is a film distribution company focused on independently produced faith-friendly, family-oriented, and freedom-loving films and educational videos. Its business strategy is a decentralized model of distribution using a network of local distributors to engage both consumer and wholesale markets in their territories through a combination of event marketing, organizational partnerships, and local networks. Movie Night Hosts help promote films through the National Movie Night project and other local film screenings. Organizational partnerships and affiliates help broaden the awareness of the Freedom Film Distributors catalog of God-honoring and family-edifying products.
Even though it was near 80 degrees, it was undeniable: autumn had arrived. This is fortunate, because Saturday was the 28th annual Craig County Fall Festival in New Castle, Virginia. It's always nice to have the aroma of fall in the air when the Fall Festival arrives.
My family and I enjoyed a glorious warm fall day on Saturday at the festival. We were one of many vendors that set up a booth and interacted with our neighbors and community in this quaint little town tucked in a valley in the Virginia Highlands. We had the opportunity to meet some of our neighbors in the area, which is one of the most important reasons that we come to these events, and even got to meet some wonderful people that were visiting from out of state, which is great, because they can spread the word about what Freedom Film Distributors is doing in a completely different area.
The festival had live music, including performances by a popular (and very good) local bluegrass band, and there was funnel cakes and other tasty treats to be had as well. Local vendors sold all sorts of great items, from locally farmed produce to homemade health and beauty products. Since the election is coming up, the candidates all had booths and were meeting and talking to the voters. It was a wonderful piece of Americana that many do not get to experience much anymore. We are fortunate to live in a rural community where this is the norm and life has been like this for decades.
We're happy to share this report from our distributors in Omaha, Nebraska, Brian and Kit Fox, who this past weekend attended the Providential History Festival.
The Fox Family was a Bronze Sponsor of the Providential History Festival this past weekend at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland, NE. The Festival showcased speeches, dramas, table displays, short stories, and essays all focused on the providence of God throughout history. It is an amazing event that we encourage you all to attend next year!
At the Festival we were able to display and sell our great line of Freedom Films. We had the opportunity to meet many new people and also let our friends see what we have been up to these past several months. People we met were excited about the vision of Freedom Film Distributors and look forward to seeing more of us in the future. We recently booked a venue for our first Family Movie Night and we were able to get the word out to a large audience.
It was wonderful to have our whole family working together, from the planning stages to the final event. One of our most important goals for our involvement with Freedom Film Distributors is to use it as an entrepreneurship training tool for our five sons. It is exciting to see them use their unique giftings in our venture. It's also great to be able to stretch them each a bit so we can all grow in our abilities.
A couple of special opportunities arose from this event. First, we met a local radio personality who is willing to do a short interview of our family to let the community know about Freedom Film Distributors! Also, we had the privilege of announcing the awards in the drama category, giving us stage time to talk about our vision and the ability to present the winner with a gift from the Freedom Film Distributors catalog.
While we have done several Freedom Film events this summer, this was our largest local event so far. It was great to share our family and distributor vision with those in our community. We look forward to the opportunity to serve in new and exciting ways, starting with our first movie night next month.
Celebrate Constitution Day (September 17th) by Hosting a Movie Night!
Show the only feature film that documents the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
Movie Night Hosts get access to special discounted film packs to share with their attendees.
A More Perfect Union:
America Becomes a Nation
AMERICA, 1786. Ten years have past since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But America's hopes for a united country are dangerously threatened. England wages a new war of unfair trade and tariffs. Fragmented states continually bicker over currencies, trade, taxations. America is a powder keg ready to explode.
But a handful of brilliant courageous men, James Madison, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin, lead a three year diplomatic battle that culminates in Philadelphia. There they created a new form of government…one that has been the standard of liberty for the rest of the world.
A More Perfect Union—the first comprehensive film enactment of the birth of the Constitution was shot on location at Independence Hall and other historic locations in Virginia. It features a distinguished staff and has been carefully crafted by a seasoned staff of motion picture professionals.
A More Perfect Union is a timeless film capturing the spirit and determination of the framers of the US Constitution as they looked well beyond their own time to insure a nation built upon justice, morality, faith in God, and empowered by the people themselves.
This past weekend I took my family to our local town's 75th annual Newport Agricultural Fair (the oldest in Virginia) and we set up a booth to sell our products and meet and greet our neighbors. While it was primarily a booth for Freedom Film Distributors, we also took the opportunity to support some friends of our that also have home businesses. So next to the large selection of DVDs that make up the Freedom Film Distributors catalog, we set up a display of the Goat Milk Soap made by our friends Jim and PJ Jonas in Indiana, and a display of the Slickepott All Natural Chocolate Fudge Sauce made by my friend Ian Lamont in upstate New York.
We had a great response to the Freedom Film Distributors presence and collection of video resources, and it was a great opportunity to meet other families that are interested in God-honoring and family-edifying films. I was even blessed by the visit of a young lady named Billie Huskey who is a quadriplegic after a severe auto accident 5 or 6 years ago. For someone who had to learn how to talk again, it was a beautiful experience to see her bubbly personality and positive outlook on life that comes from her faith, and to learn how she is impacting other peoples lives as a physical therapist (yes, the licensed professional kind) and a motivational speaker.
Most importantly, we used this opportunity to train our children about the importance of hard work, attention to detail, industry, and the selling skills of communication and friendliness. My two daughters, age 6 and 4, made over two dozen beaded necklaces and bracelets during the week before the Fair that we set up on a display outside of our booth. My oldest daughter Lydia is naturally outgoing, and she would go from handing out samples of goat milk soap to asking people if they wanted to see her collection of home made jewelry. She was even consistent in closing each engagement with "would you like to buy one?" When faced with the engaging personality of this bright-eyed six year old, most were fully ready to make a purchase as soon as she asked.
In all, this was a great opportunity to meet many of our neighbors in our valley and the surrounding areas, and talk about family business and family films. It is encouraging to know that this kind of community engagement has been happening all over the nation with our existing distributors, and will continue to grow in frequency and impact in the months and years to come.
If this report is encouraging to you, would you consider joining us as a distributor or movie night host, or spreading the word to friends and family about the opportunity we provide? Thanks, and we hope to see you next year at the Fair.
The Wintons are enjoying the east coast portion of their cross-country tour, and they had the opportunity to stop in the Blacksburg, Virginia area to visit my family and perform a concert for friends and neighbors. Their wonderful performance of bluegrass gospel music was a perfect fit for the Sinking Creek Valley where we live, where this kind of mountain music has a long history. Attendees were excited to see all the films from the Freedom Film Distributors catalog, in addition to enjoying their great music and fellowship in our little spot of heaven in the Virginia mountains.
It was a joy to spend some time with their lovely family, and witness the beauty of a father and sons working together, supported by their wife and mom, who helps keep them on time and ensures all the little details are taken care of. Many thanks to the Wintons for coming to visit and blessing us with their presence and their music. Y'all come back, now.
We’re having a great time with thousands of home educators at the 2010 HEAV Convention in Richmond. There is wonderful attendance this year at this very well-run conference, with hundreds of volunteers that make this event possible. I caught this sight of a father and daughter browsing products at our booth that really demonstrates a wonderful and unique aspect of home education – just being together.
The feedback on our products and vision for sharing them in communities across the nation has been very positive. We look forward to what God has in store for Freedom Film Distributors in the days and weeks ahead.
The most popular product so far for the weekend is the American Heritage Digital Library, which is an outstanding value for a massive educational resource such as this.
(Special thanks to Ethan Ledden for outstanding job he did on this product flyer being displayed at the HEAV covention.)
While Steve Morales and family are meeting homeschooling families in Virginia at the HEAV Convention, Alan Hillman and family are on the road again, this time in Connecticut at the CT TEACH homeschooling convention. Now at their 5th homeschooling convention of the year, our road warrior distributor family is excited about this last convention before they get a chance to rest for the summer.
