• What Holiday Are You Celebrating?
• We Shall Not Be Moved - DVD
• Christian Film Shown at Sundance
• Hollywood Can Be Redeemed
• Films In the Works From Believe Pictures
• Drive Thru History: America - DVD
• Featured Films: Celebrating History
• Christians In Cinema: Denzel Whitaker

Hi Raquelle,

Did you know that this week is “Just Say No to PowerPoint Week?” I didn’t until today. It seems like February is full of holidays.

This Monday was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Next Monday we celebrate President’s Day with another holiday. According to a Homeschooler’s website I found, some of the following are also February holidays: National Baked Alaska Day, National Weatherperson’s Day, Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day, and Inventor’s Day. That’s a lot to celebrate.

In 1976, Black History Month was established. The goal was improving race relations and demonstrating that Africans and people of African descent had contributed significantly to the advance of history.

I really enjoyed Setting the Record Straight and We Shall Not Be Moved. Both of these films introduce us to some unsung African-American heroes of American history. Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters gives us a glimpse into the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and early 60s.

A fast-paced look into American history is hosted by energetic Dave Stotts. His account of eight pivotal men and women from our nation’s beginning is both entertaining and educational.

No matter what holiday you’re celebrating (National Sticky Bun Day?), we have some great DVDs to help you learn more about them. And don’t forget; take your sweetheart to see the new love story, “Me & You, Us, Forever,” coming to a theater near you.

From the screening room,

Angela Walker
ChristianMovieNews.com

A Highlands Ranch producer and a writer and director formerly from Castle Rock recently showed a trailer of their new film at the Sundance Film Festival.

Executive producer Jess Stainbrook, of Highlands Ranch, and writer-director Matt Russell, of Los Angeles, were invited to show a 4.5-minute featurette and an additional scene from their new movie, I AM, during a panel at the film festival in Park City, Utah.

Karen Covell, Hollywood producer and founder of Hollywood Prayer Network, says that Hollywood is more like Nineveh than Sodom or Gomorrah.

The untold chapter in the struggle for American Civil Rights

The first African-American house of worship was built by Savannah slaves, working in secret every night to create a place where they might find refuge in their faith. Some two centuries later, the American South had become home to hundreds of African-American congregations-in cities like Birmingham and Atlanta and all across the rural landscape.

With photographs and film from the period, plus the personal accounts of those on the front lines, such as Dr. Wilson Fallin of Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, a leader in the Voters’ Rights Movement; Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, former pastor of Birmingham’s Bethel Baptist Church; Rev. Abraham Lincoln Woods, pastor of that city’s St. Joseph Baptist Church, Carolyn McKinstry, who narrowly escaped being the fifth fatality at the Birmingham church bombing; former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young and many more, We Shall Not Be Moved provides a new perspective not only on the courage but on the strategic acumen of the men and women who organized and led the struggle for racial equality.

Get the Black History 4-Pack and save!

Brian Bird (writer/producer of Touched by An Angel series) and his production partner Michael Landon, Jr. (Love Comes Softly series) have a couple of features in development. The duo that brought us The Last Sin Eater and Saving Sarah Cain start production on February 27th in Canada.

The greatest football story of 2002 is captured in Jake’s Run, about a boy on a high school football team in Ohio. “There are many victories in sports, . . . and hope, faith and the strength of the human spirit are alive and well . . . even in these very cynical times.” Fox plans on releasing this film in late 2008.

On hold because of the writers’ strike that ended yesterday, “The Preacher’s Daughter” is in development. It is another book by Beverly Lewis that’s being adapted into a movie. It is slated for a release with Lifetime and Fox, similar to Sarah Cain.

Brian and Michael know how to translate stories into good films, so be sure to watch for the release of these two movies.

Take a Fast-Paced Tour of American History

American history as it always was--taught as it's never been. Actively engage your students with this interactive look at the freedoms we enjoy in our country and how we traveled here. Buckle up, put it in drive and cruise through the history of eight pivotal men and women from our nation’s beginning and get to know them from their youth to the days where they made their mark. Be prepared to lay a solid foundation for where our country has been and challenge the thoughts and views of where your students are going.

The award-winning Drive Thru History video series team, in collaboration with well-known author and historian David Barton and accomplished curriculum specialist, Dr. Nita Thomason, proudly present this new, complete, standards-aligned curriculum supported by another of Dave Stotts' fast-paced drives through history. The values-based course explores the lives of individuals who founded our nation in faith, through a commitment to God and Country.

It's time to remember our foundation of faith and values...and teach it to our children before it's forgotten.

Includes: DVD with 9 video sessions, worksheets, teacher's guide and student's guide with activities to follow along the drive. Curriculum aligns with standards set by National Council for the Social Studies.

Get all 5 episodes in one pack and save!

Inspiring Animated Heroes Collection - DVD Learn about these inspiring heroes of American history with all 5 DVD's in the series! Josiah Henson: The Real Uncle Tom - DVD The life of the man who inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic novel Uncle Tom's Cabin The Azusa Street Project Vol. 1 - DVD When the power of God hit Los Angeles: The Azusa Street Revival of 1906 Gods Generals - DVD Why some succeeded and why some failed.

I had a few moments to talk with Denzel about the upcoming film, his family, and what he likes to do in his spare time.

CC.com: Denzel, you’ve been called a “brilliant young actor” by your co-stars Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker (no relation). What is your acting background?

Denzel: I started acting officially about 5 years ago. For two years before that, I did background work. I was told if I could survive that, then I could go into acting. It wasn’t really one of those things I planned to do. An agency recommended that I try acting. So my parents drove me down to the audition and encouraged me to just try it!

Once I started acting, I found it fascinating. I enjoy being able to play different characters and put on different hats. I can be someone other than Denzel Whitaker. When I became James Farmer, Jr., it was a chance to step out of reality and be someone different.

CC.com: You worked on a filmset with two of our time’s most legendary actors. Can you tell us a little about what you learned from both of them?

[ Read more... ]