Divine inspiration

Scriptures from the Bible take on a leading role in the 168 Hour Film Festival scheduled for April 11 and 12 in Glendale.

Aspiring local filmmakers are taking part in the annual production contest where they randomly select a Bible verse and are given 168 hours, or one week, to make a film based on that verse.

The festival is geared toward exploring the Bible and giving budding filmmakers a chance to showcase their creativity and talent, said John David Ware, founder and executive director of the 168 Hour Film Festival.

“The aim is to illuminate the word of God and train up young filmmakers,” Ware said. “We have great support from all of our supporters, those of the secular and the Christian side.”

Films will be screened on April 11 at the United Community Auditorium and April 12 at the Alex Theatre.

One of the entries is “Stained,” which is based on Galatians 3:28 and reads: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Director Joshua Weigel picked the Scripture, which was taped to a stone, at random and worked with his crew to interpret it before starting on the production.

“It’s not like the ideas instantly flowed,” he said.

“But we knew we had a good one.”

But the verse did help them narrow down the venue for the setting of the film, he said.

“We felt we had a Scripture that we could work with the location,” Weigel said. “We were excited and just had to wrestle it down to work with it.”

Once they selected the location, the crew members, including Glendale resident Pete Brown and John Campbell of Burbank, started working on the production.

“Stained” is filmed in downtown Los Angeles at the former Herald Examiner building.

The story is set in the future and is about a society that segregates its undesirables. In this society, different groups of people with varying characteristics are classified in separate districts. The focus of the film is on the lead female character who is placed in the “green district” with the terminally ill, said Jeff Bartsch, one of the producers. She is met by a group of special operatives who come to rescue her and accept her for who she is, which coincides with the Scripture that everyone is treated equal.

Brown, the film’s crane operator, found that the crew was able to work together despite their varying experience in film making.

Begin able to work as equals with his crew has been reflective of the Scripture’s message.

“Sure enough it was as if the Scripture was guiding our attitudes,” Brown, said of working on the set.

“It just kind of manifested itself in that the Scripture paralleled what was happening on the set,” he said.

For Campbell, the film’s music composer, the project gave him the opportunity to score the music.

He studied the verse to get a better idea of where he needed to go musically, he added.

“The Scripture has got a lift and a sense of hope,” Campbell said.

“The music you use, the progressions and sounds are to represent hope, encouragement and inspiration.”

The 168 project will have 82 entries with more than 70 films that will be featured during the festival, Ware said. Filmmakers from 11 countries will also be participating, he added.

“The [project] was definitely inspired to be a win-win situation,” Ware said. “The filmmakers win and the audience wins, and it’s an overall community-building experience.”