Bringing Faith to Film

November/December 2008 Issue | Posted by Joseph Pronechen in Everyday Apostles

Digitally Pro-Life

Matthew Connors, age 19

No one knew better than Pope John Paul II the importance of using the media to proclaim the Gospel. It’s a lesson some young people are absorbing and answering.

“I always wanted to tell stories through film,” says 19-year-old college sophomore Matthew Connors. Looking for a school last year, he found John Paul the Great University in San Diego, Calif. — a school for Catholics in the media, whose aim it is to “shape innovators and creators, leaders and entrepreneurs at the intersections of business, technology and communications media.”

Matthew liked joining storytelling on film and theology “into one package to evangelize and entertain,” he says. Right from the get-go as a freshman, he got to work on several big projects, like a video from the San Diego Diocese to welcome Pope Benedict XVI during his 2008 U.S. trip.

“After I finished that film,” says Matthew, “I thought, ‘I’m a freshman and already able to implement my faith in a film.’ That was incredible to me.”

Next, he worked with students for a group called Friends of Sarah. They filmed short commercial spots in support of the Sarah’s Law initiative that is to appear on this November’s state ballot. The initiative would require that parents be informed if their daughter is seeking an abortion.

“As Catholics, we fight against abortion 24-7,” says Matthew, “and this is a big jump we can make to fight the whole issue.” The videos countered those being shown by Planned Parenthood and aired on YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook.

He and a friend also filmed a short pro-life video for the first Cinema Vita Film Festival in San Francisco in March. Called For the Best, the story was about a girl choosing life. He also hosted the first student-run Giuseppe Awards Film Festival at John Paul the Great this year.

His ideal goal is to be a screenwriter, writing great morals and Gospel teaching into a film everyone can enjoy — “a blockbuster with great action and dialogue,” he says, “that underneath it all has the great moral and faith lessons that easily connect to Catholic teachings and the Church.”

Merry Band of Apostles

Genevieve Morlino, age 13

The latest version of Robin Hood made its premiere one year ago in Danbury, Conn., with a cast of more than 50. The overflow crowd cheered the acting, castle settings, and strong Catholic themes. Executive producer Genevieve Morlino, then 12 years old, was thrilled.

This film was the second she worked on with her dad Jim Morlino, her family, and her friends. In 2006, with about 30 children, they filmed Redwall, an adaptation of the principal book in a series she and her sister had read.

With nearly double the cast, Robin Hood was summer 2007’s ambitious production, and everyone had fun working on a truly faith-filled theme.

“We wanted to make it very Catholic,” says Genevieve. “We did a lot of re­ search, read books, and learned that in the Middle Ages people were Catholic, priests were important, and religion was a very, very important part of daily life.”

Her mother Fran observed that the children learned about a society where everyone calls on the Blessed Mother and St. Michael to help against evil.

The video involved the Crusades as a big theme, too, because Genevieve found that, in some accounts of the Robin Hood legend, Robin of Locksley was a re­ turning Crusader who fights for justice. Gene­ vieve’s version starts with him in the Holy Land saving the life of King Richard.

“We had King Richard tell Robin Hood he had to go back and make sure everything was right,” she explains. Not an outlaw and thief, Robin Hood is instead given “permission to make sure the people of Nottingham were safe.”

In these projects, Genevieve describes herself as “my dad’s faithful right-hand man.” Dad Jim does the filming (he works making videos), while she, as executive producer, runs the crew and costuming. She generously credits her mom and many others with making it all possible.

In honor of the 150th Anniversary of Mary’s appearance to Bernadette in Lourdes, Genevieve’s next film project will be The Story of St. Bernadette.

Learning the faith, sharing it with others in an annual film production, and having fun while making it. What could be better? Genevieve summarizes beautifully, “What we’re trying to do is make beautiful things for God.”

Optimum Medium

Danny Gonzalez

A degree in accounting doesn’t appear to be what a young independent video producer would earn in college, but don’t tell that to Danny Gonzalez. The 24-year-old used it to open his own video company, Optimum Productions (Opti­ mum Pro­ ductions.net), in spring 2007 in Atlanta.

The idea for it had an unlikely start. Right after high school, halfway through a year in Mexico with Regnum Christi, the Legion of Christ’s movement of apostolate, Danny was ready to give up and transfer to a city in the United States. Then he recalled God saying to him before leaving for Mexico, “This is going to be your training. It’s going to be a lot tougher that you think.”

God must have something in store, Danny thought. “That changed my life, and I knew it would shape the rest of my life.” Right after that he met a Legionary priest making virtues videos who inspired him to do the same.

Danny’s first production was An Opportunity for Charity, a 10-minute film in Spanish about a boy who is unskilled at soccer and shunned by everybody. Another boy reaches out to help him, and the outcast comes back to score against the best players. It was a hit with fourth and fifth graders.

Back in Atlanta as a ConQuest boys’ club team leader, Danny repeated the theme using basketball, then turned out several more videos. Soon he went to World Youth Day in Germany to direct a promotional video for the Vocation.com Coffee House.

At that point, says Danny, “I started praying and wondering if this is what God wanted me to do.”

The door opened. He started his company. People flew him to Vail, Colo., and Dallas to film weddings. He was hired for many projects and promotional videos.

“What I want to do is to work in the secular market and use the talents and gifts I have to evangelize,” Danny explains, “but not in an overly preachy manner.”

Rather, like St. Francis.

What does Danny think of this surprising direction? “None of this is me. It’s all God,” he says. “It’s a tremendous amount of blessings and grace I receive from him, because in no way could I do this. If he wants something to happen, he’s opening the doors for me.”

Open wide the doors to Christ, and he will open them wide for you.

Staff writer Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.

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