CAFF 04

Use this menu wherever you see it to explore the 2004 festival.

Our panels are the meat and potatoes of CAFF: An eclectic and highly edified group of accomplished filmmakers, theologians, thinkers, teachers and cinematic spiritual spelunkers. Click on the film titles to read the essays as a starting place for the illuminating discussion which follows each screening.

La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast)

	Monica Ganas Dr. Ganas is an associate professor of Communication Studies at Azusa Pacific University and a 20-year-veteran of the entertainment industry, performing as actor, writer, and occasional producer/director, principally in satirical comedy. She holds a doctorate in Communication from the University of Kentuck, and a masters degree in English from San Francisco State University. Her areas of scholarship, publication and teaching are popular culture, media, theatre, community development and communication for social change. Having developed the Media Studies emphasis in Communication Studies, she recently co-authored APU's new Cinema and Broadcast Arts major. The wife of a pastor, she is co-director of the Azusa Renaissance Center, a grassroots movement to restore arts in Azusa through workshops and performance venues. She also directs plays for APU Theatre, and is now co-authoring a Theatre major at APU. She serves on the organizational boards of the City of Angels Film Festival and Reel Spirituality and is a frequent presenter at the National Communication Association and Popular Culture Association conferences.
	Doug Cummings Mr. Cummings has a BA in Media Arts from the University of Arizona. He has facilitated a variety of websites dealing with film, spirituality, and culture since 1998. His latest ventures include Filmjourney.org (a personal blog and film discussion site), MastersofCinema.org (an information site for art films and worldwide DVD releases), and Robert-Bresson.com (a site devoted to the legendary French filmmaker). He has spoken at a variety of conferences and published articles in Beyond magazine and SensesofCinema.com.
	Craig Detweiler, Moderator Mr. Detweiler is the new associate professor and chair of Mass Communications at Biola University. His feature screenwriting credits include The Duke and Extreme Days. Baker Academic just published Craig's first book (co-written with Barry Taylor) A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture. Craig produced the City of the Angels Film Festival for three years.

Yojimbo

	Brian Bird Brian Bird has written and/or produced 250 episodes of network television, including Touched By An Angel, Evening Shade, Step By Step and The Family Man His screenwriting credits include Paramount’s Bopha!, Hallmark’s Captive Heart, and TNT’s Call Me Claus, 2002’s top-rated cable movie. He and his wife, Patty, and five children, attend Saddleback Church.
	John McAteer A professional philosopher, an amateur film critic, and screenwriter, John earned a B.A. in Radio-TV-Film Communication and an M.A. in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics, both from Biola University. His first screenplay was for the film "The Boys" which was named Best Youth Film and Best Evangelistic Film of 1998 by the International Christian Visual Media Association. But then, after a brief stint as the coordinator of Biola's annual Christians & Media Conference, he left Show Business for the Ivory Tower. Currently the University of California at Riverside pays him to study the history of aesthetics and ethics and then to tell their undergraduates about his research. If he's lucky, they will award him a Ph.D. for his efforts. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Stasi and their two cats.
	Patricia Phalen Patricia Phalen taught at Ohio University until 1998, when she joined the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University. Currently, she serves as SMPA's Director of Graduate Studies and teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. Phalen earned her Ph.D. from Northwestern's Department of Radio/Television/Film during the university's "Rosebowl Season" of 1996. She has published articles in the Journal of Media Economics, the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, the American Journal of Political Science, and Political Communication. She also is the co-author of Ratings Analysis: Theory and Practice (with J. Webster and L. Lichty, 2000), and The Mass Audience: Rediscovering the Dominant Model (with J. Webster, 1997), both published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Phalen is active in the Broadcast Education Association, and she serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. Her expertise is in Audience Research and the Socio-economic History of Media Institutions.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

	Dr. Jeff Siker Jeffrey S. Siker is Professor of New Testament and Chairs the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles), where he has taught since 1987. He grew up in Pittsburgh, PA; received a BA and MA from Indiana University (in Music & Religious Studies); received his M.Div. from Yale Divinity School, and his Ph.D. in New Testament from Princeton Theological Seminary. His expertise includes the areas of early Jewish/Christian relations, the history of biblical interpretation, uses of the Bible in ethical debates, and theology and film. He is the author of many articles and several books, including Disinheriting the Jews: Abraham in Early Christian Controversy (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991), Homosexuality in the Church: Both Sides of the Debate (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994), and Scripture & Ethics: 20th Century Portraits (Oxford Univesity Press, 1997). Dr. Siker is also ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church. In addition to courses in biblical studies, Dr. Siker regularly teaches a course on Jesus in Film.
	David Tlapek Mr. Tlapek was a practicing attorney in Dallas, Texas before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film. He earned a Master of Arts in Film Production from the University of Southern California, a Law Degree from Georgetown University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from The University of Missouri-Columbia (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). He also studied abroad at Oxford University. David's latest project, "Divining the Human: The Cathedral Tapestries of John Nava," is a soon to premiere documentary about California artist John Nava and the tapestries he created for the new Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels, in downtown Los Angeles. "The Hidden Gift: War and Faith in Sudan" was David's previous feature film. This highly acclaimed documentary has been influential in the movement toward a peace settlement in Sudan's long civil war. "The Hidden Gift" has been broadcast in the U.S., Canada, Rome, London and throughout Africa and the Pacific Rim. It continues to be a major fund-raising tool for ongoing Catholic ministry in Sudan. As his Master's Thesis project at USC, David directed, co-wrote and produced the short film, "The Search for Martin Frye," which claimed numerous awards and festival honors. David lives and works in Los Angeles, developing film and television projects, has taught at Loyola Marymount University and is on the Board of Directors of Catholics in Media Associates and the Executive Committee of CAFF.
	Brian D. McLaren Mr. McLaren graduated from University of Maryland with degrees in English. After several years teaching and consulting in higher education, he left academia in 1986 to become founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church, an innovative, nondenominational church in the Baltimore-Washington region. His public speaking covers a broad range of topics including postmodernism, Biblical studies, evangelism, apologetics, leadership, global mission, church growth, church planting, art and music, pastoral survival and burnout, inter-religious dialogue, and ecology and faith. McLaren's first book, The Church on the Other Side: Doing Ministry in the Postmodern Matrix, has been recognized as a primary portal into the current conversation about postmodern ministry. His other works include Finding Faith, A New Kind of Christian, More Ready Than You Realize: Evangelism as Dance in the Postmodern Matrix,, A is for Abductive, coauthored with Dr. Leonard Sweet, and Adventures in Missing the Point coauthored with Dr. Anthony Campolo. He is a fellow with emergent, a growing generative friendship among missional Christian leaders, and serves on the board of Off the Map, an organization helping people cultivate a practical spirituality. He formerly served as board chair of International Teams, an innovative missions organization based in Chicago, and has served on the board of Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, and theooze.com in California.

Chinatown

	Scott Young, Moderator Rev. Young is the 2004 Chair and Co-Founder of the City of Angels Film Festival. He served on the ecumenical jury at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival and was co-director of Reel Spirituality, 1999. He is the director of Faculty Relations for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in the Southern California region. Scott is the director of “The Soul of Los Angeles” photographic exhibit. He is adjunct faculty at Fuller Theological Seminary, Art Center: College of Design, and Biola University.
	Donald Waldie D. J. Waldie is the author of two books about LA: "Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir" (California Book Award for nonfiction in 1997) and "Where We Are Now: Notes from Los Angeles." His essays also appear in two books of photographs: "Real City: Downtown Los Angeles Inside/Out" and "Close to Home: An American Album." Waldie's narratives about life in Los Angeles have appeared in Buzz Magazine, Kenyon Review, Salon, and Dwell. His book reviews and opinion pieces appear in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times and he is a contributing writer at Los Angeles Magazine. In 1998, he received a Whiting Writers Award from the Whiting Foundation of New York. D. J. Waldie has been the Public Information Officer of the city of Lakewood since 1978. He lives a not-quite-middle-class life in Lakewood, in the house his parents bought in 1946, which is about a mile from his office at city hall and the church he attends.
	Barbara R. Nicolosi Ms. Nicolosi is the Director of Act One: Writing for Hollywood, an educational program sponsored by Inter-Mission to train screenwriters from the Christian community for mainstream entertainment industry careers. Miss Nicolosi is a screenwriter, monthly media columnist, and frequent speaker at writer's conferences.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Peter Malone
is a Sacred Heart Father from Australia living in England. In 1998 he was elected preseident of the International Catholic Organization for Cinema (OCIC) and is a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He has served as a juror at major film festivals throughout the world, including Cannes, Venice and Montreal. Peter is also an expert on the Myers-Briggs Personality Types and Spirituality. He is the author of Movie Christs and Anti-Christs and co-author of Cinema Religion and Values and is a regular columnist for The Universe, a Catholic newspaper in the UK. His book series, written with Rose Pacatte, FSP, Lights, Camera... Faith: A Movie Lectionary, continues to help inquiring cinephiles on their spiritual quest in the dark. (Pauline Books & Media).

Scott Young
Rev. Young is the 2004 Chair and Co-Founder of the City of Angels Film Festival. He served on the ecumenical jury at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival and was co-director of Reel Spirituality, 1999. He is the director of Faculty Relations for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in the Southern California region. Scott is the director of “The Soul of Los Angeles” photographic exhibit. He is adjunct faculty at Fuller Theological Seminary, Art Center: College of Design, and Biola University.

Man Dancin'

Norman Stone, Director
Norman Stone is perhaps best known for bringing the international, award-winning drama ‘Shadowlands’ to our screens. It starred Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom and won two BAFTA awards, an International Emmy, and the Prague D'or for Best Director. Other dramas include 'Martin Luther Heretic' starring Jonathan Pryce; 'New World' starring James Fox; 'The Vision' starring Dirk Bogarde and Lee Remick, and the award-winning 'Burston Rebellion' with Eileen Atkins and Bernard Hill. In 1988-89 he directed a four-part thriller series for BBC Scotland, 'The Justice Game' written by John Brown and the television feature 'Pied Piper' starring Peter O'Toole and based on the novel by Neville Shute. After working on the feature film script of 'The End Time' with writer Murray Watts, he collaborated again with Watts on a film adaptation of Dostoevsky's 'Dream of a Ridiculous Man' for BBC2. This starred Jeremy Irons and was nominated for an ACE Award in the category of Best International Drama. Since then, Norman has directed a number of top TV dramas including two 'Miss Marples' and two 'Catherine Cooksons'. For one of these ('The Black Velvet Gown') he received his second International Emmy. Norman invented and directed the popular wartime comedy 'Ain't Misbehavin'' for ITV Network Centre and also a four-part sci-fi thriller 'The Uninvited' for Zenith / ITV. He then produced 'Easter Tales' (aka ‘Tales From the Madhouse’), an award-winning series of one man dramas for BBC 1, and an experimental drama for Channel 4 ‘Play in a Week’. His Omnibus special ‘After the Laughter’ on the life and music of Dudley Moore, recently gained a much coveted Academy (BAFTA) Award.

The following year, his BBC drama-documentary ‘The Tartan Pimpernel’ on the secret exploits of wartime hero Donald Caskie, won the ‘Andrew Cross Award’ for best documentary of 2002. ‘21st Century Bach’ (BBC 2), a ground breaking series of seventeen short films on one of the world’s best loved composers, was followed by MAN DANCIN’, Norman’s first feature film, which he created and directed in his home town of Glasgow.

Thom Parham, interviewer
Dr. Parham is an Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies at Azusa Pacific University. He holds a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy, an M.A. from Regent University and a Ph.D., Regent University. Tom Parham has thorough knowledge of screenwriting, film and television production, and broadcast journalism. He has served as a technical consultant and freelance writer for the television series JAG.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (extended)

	Darryl L. Tippens Dr. Tippens is the Provost of Pepperdine University, where he is also Professor of English. He has served at Pepperdine University for almost four years. Prior to his service at Pepperdine he taught English literature at Abilene Christian University and at Oklahoma Christian University. He serves on the editorial boards two periodicals: New Wineskins and Explorations in Renaissance Culture. Darryl is a scholar who enjoys researching and teaching literature from the English Renaissance, but he also has a strong interest in contemporary culture and frequently writes film reviews. With Stephen Weathers and Jeanne Murray Walker, he is completing the second edition of an anthology of literature called Shadow and Light: Literature and the Life of Faith which will appear in early 2005.
	Laura Dunn Laura Dunn is the executive director of the Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), the non-profit organization for professional film & television composers, songwriters, and lyricists. A classically-trained musician, she studied music at Westmont College and San Francisco State University, theatre at San Francisco Theatre Academy, and theology at Fuller Seminary. While working as contract administrator for Paramount Pictures' film and TV music department, she completed UCLA's film scoring program. She has composed music for independent films and video games, but has spent the last four years growing and developing the SCL.
	Thom Parham Dr. Parham is an Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies at Azusa Pacific University. He holds a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy, an M.A. from Regent University and a Ph.D., Regent University. Tom Parham has thorough knowledge of screenwriting, film and television production, and broadcast journalism. He has served as a technical consultant and freelance writer for the television series JAG.

Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus)

	Paul Wolff Mr. Wolff is a unique figure in the Hollywood community who combined a long career in the Industry with a life of service and spiritual direction. His many credits include: Executive Producer and Co-creator of Annie McQuire series with Mary Tyler Moore and Little House on the Praire with Michael Landon. He is currently writing a sitcom and is on the faculty of USC School of Cinema and Television.
	Pamela Jaye Smith Ms. Smith is a Consultant, Speaker, Writer, Producer, Director and founder of MYTHWORKS, a global consultation and resource company helping individuals, organizations, the media arts and the military be more creative and effective via Applied Mythology, Ancient Wisdom, New Science and the Proven Power-Tools of Creativity. Pamela has eight years formal training in Comparative Mysticism and is a certified teacher of the Wisdom Schools. She is pursuing a Masters in Military Studies and belongs to a U.S. Army think-tank developing "The New American Warrior in the 21st Century", Ethics & Values, and Empowerment.
	Monica Jimenez-Grillo Monica teaches "Introduction to Filmmaking" and "Seminar in Producing the Independent Film". She holds a B.A. in Communication from Trinity International University, and an M.A in Communication from Regent University.

The Wizard of Oz

	Rob Johnston Dr. Johnston is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, teaching courses in Theology and Film, Theology and Contemporary Literature, and Theology and Popular Culture. His books include Evangelicals at an Impasse: The Use of the Bible in Theology-Evangelical Options, Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue, and his most recent title: Life Is Not Work, Work Is Not Life. Rob was the recipient of the 2002 Spiritus Award for his book, Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue. He and his wife Catherine Barsotti are regular movie reviewers for The Covenant Companion.
	Drew Trotter Andrew Trotter is the executive director of the Center for Christian Study in Charlottesville, VA, and has taught biblical studies and systematic theology at the seminary level for more than twenty years. He received his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from Cambridge University and is the author of Interpreting the Epistle to the Hebrews (Baker, 1997). Drew has lectured on film and culture at seminaries, churches and colleges throughout the eastern United States. Drew and his wife Marie, a second-grade teacher at the Covenant School, have three sons and a daughter-in-law. His email is drew@studycenter.net.
	Laurie Hutzler Laurie Hutzler is a consultant assisting entertainment industry professionals in developing feature films and television programs for both the domestic and international markets. Her practical methods are used as a problem-solving approach in her classes and lectures at the UCLA School of Film and Television and in master classes and lectures presented through universities and professional guilds in Europe.