Category: Culture

One of the Most Unique (and Engaging) Movies Ever Made

I felt as if I was living inside the body of a Yanomamo tribesman. Honest — this movie is stirring.

It’s always nice to hear endorsements of your work from people you really respect. Doug Lucas is is very involved in cutting-edge training and information related to seeing the gospel transform every culture. He publishes a weekly e-mail update with news of all kinds at Brigada.org. Here’s a review of our film, The Enemy God, that Doug wrote recently.

“Yai Wanonabalewa (The Enemy God)” has to be one of the most unique movies ever produced… and it’s now been released on DVD.

Hear me well: This is an intense film… It is sometimes graphic, sometimes heart-wrenching, but always engaging. My advice for professors of seminary classes looking for something related to spiritual warfare, anthropology, world religions, and Cross-cultural communications: Run, don’t walk, to order a copy. To anyone working in folk religions, you finally have an inside view to what goes on “inside their heads.”

I can’t even put into words the “point of view” from which the story is told… because it seems to be totally Yanomamo… cross-cultural. I felt as if I was living inside the body of a Yanomamo tribesman. I spent much of my time fearing what might come next. Honest — this movie is stirring. If you have a missionary working among tribal peoples, this will give you a new perspective on prayer and its potential to make a difference. Don’t expect a heart-warming, feel-good story like something from a Disney kids’ film. Expect to be sobered. Expect to experience a perspective you’ve never felt before.

Read the whole article from Brigada.org here: One of the Most Unique (and Engaging) Movies Ever Made.

Book Of The Year: Growing Up Yanomamö

…was recently voted “Book of the Year, Biographies” by the Christian Small Publishers Association.

Growing Up Yanomamö
Growing Up Yanomamö

I was excited to hear that a friend’s book, Growing Up Yanomamö, was recently voted “Book of the Year, Biographies” by the Christian Small Publishers Association.

“… a bit of Huck Finn, with an Amazon twist.” says Simon Romero, Andean Bureau Chief, “The New York Times”

It’s a fun read, about Mike Dawson’s years growing up in the jungle as the child of missionary parents. He also reveals some very personal trials and his experiences of how God’s faithfulness is demonstrated in every circumstance.

You can buy the book here on our web site. Look for the special pricing on the book bundled with The Enemy God DVD.

Mike also happens to be one our our Executive Producers on The Enemy God film. He brought continuity between our indigenous partners and our filmmaking team that was essential to making a truly authentic film.

Mormons and Film

Mormonism has arguably been the most cinematically engaged religious movement in the history of motion pictures. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members have been involved with filmmaking since the medium’s beginning. The first motion picture to feature Latter-day Saints was the Spanish-American War actuality Salt Lake City Company of Rocky Mountain

I find this a fascinating article from an insider’s perspective. It gives a historical and cultural overview of the use and influence of motion pictures within the LDS world. It would be interesting to me to understand the dynamics and how they are the same and how they differ from mainstream Evangelical Christian filmmaking.

Click here to read the full article on Patheos: Mormons and Film.

viaRenovo – a way worth taking

I was intrigued by several articles on this site today. Check out the new post by Ron Reed: A&F 100: Spiritually Significant Films. How many of these are on your list of influential and significant films? What impact do films like these make on the spiritual conversations of our cultures?

There are many more insightful posts and links on viaRenovo. Here’s  the point:

viaRenovo is committed to seeing the world through redemptive eyes, seeking to join with God in his restoration of all things through the power of the gospel and His transformative grace.

Visit the site: viaRenovo

“Avatar is real” say tribal people « The Enemy God – The Movie

An immersive visual feast? Pantheistic drivel? Box-office champ? No matter what you think of the film, some audiences are relating more strongly because of their own history with those searching for wealth in their homelands. Here’s a post from our film blog.

“Avatar is real” say tribal people « The Enemy God – The Movie