SUMMARIES & PHOTOS - PREVIOUS FESTIVALS

Recap of the 2011 Imago Film Festival (.pdf format)

Recap of the 2010 Imago Film Festival (.pdf format)

Recap of the 2009 Imago Film Festival (.pdf format)

Recap of the 2008 Imago Film Festival (.pdf format)

Recap of the 2007 Imago Film Festival (.pdf format)

Recap of the 2006 Imago Film Festival (.pdf format)

Photos of the 2011 festival (file size: 2.3MB)

Photos of the 2010 festival (file size: 4.7MB)

Photos of the 2009 festival (file size: 3.07MB)

Photos of the 2008 festival (file size: 2.2MB)

Photos of the 2007 festival (file size: 16MB)

David Nixon (Creative Keynote):
Originally from Sydney Australia, David Nixon has produced and directed documentaries in Russia, India, and Europe as well as commercials for Subway, Nickelodeon, and Walt Disney World. Six years ago, he was called on by Sherwood Baptist Church to help produce the wildly successful movie "Facing the Giants." By bringing together a small group of Christian technicians with the volunteer help of the entire church, Nixon was able to give the small budget project a "big screen" look. He then helped produce Sherwood's next movie "Fireproof," the number one independent movie of 2008. David Nixon's latest movie, "Letters to God," is the first of 3 films being produced by his new company, Possibility Pictures.


Jeffrey Overstreet (Critical Keynote):
In 1996, Jeffrey Overstreet started blogging about movies, music, literature, faith, and culture and that blog would eventually become lookingcloser.org. Jeffrey's blog also led to his "memoir of dangerous moviegoing," Through a Screen Darkly (published in 2007). In 2001, Jeffrey began writing "Film Forum," a weekly column for ChristianityToday.com, examining the nature of dialogue about art in the church and popular culture. In 2009, Jeffrey brainstormed a new website with Micheal Leary called Filmwell, a place for unpredictable exploration and inquiry related to cinema. Jeffrey regularly contributes to Seattle Pacific University's Response and the Image website and had been published in Paste, Risen, Relevant, and Books & Culture. For his writing about movies, he was honored with the 2007 Spiritus Award at the City of the Angels Film Festival.

PREVIOUS FESTIVAL SPEAKERS

Darren Wilson (Creative Keynote):
Darren Wilson is an independent filmmaker and Artist-in-Residence at Judson University, in Elgin, Illinois. Darren earned his MFA in Script and Screenwriting from Regent University, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Darren’s first feature film, Finger of God, details his personal journey around the world in search of the miraculous. His most recent film, Furious Love, is a loose sequel, in which he continues his travels to spiritually dark places, finding God in the midst of the darkness. Darren is the founder and head of Wanderlust Productions.


Gaye Ortiz (Critical Keynote):
Gaye Williams Ortiz is a lecturer in communications studies and cinema at Augusta State University in Augusta, Georgia. Gaye’s areas of specialty include film and women’s studies and she teaches classes on the connections between film and religion. Her publications include the edited collection, Explorations in Theology and Film, and Theology and Film (cowritten with Christopher Deacy). In addition to exploring how film can enrich the study of theology, it suggests film can challenge the sacred/secular divide. Among many other films, Gaye is a fan of The Big Lebowski and loves to talk to others about “Dudeology.”

David McFadzean (Creative Keynote):
David McFadzean is a writer and producer for television and film; he began his writing career as a playwright hailing from Chicago and taught at Judson University.  His dramatic works have received productions off-Broadway and at Washington's Kennedy Center.  After serving as executive story editor on the premier season of Roseanne, he created and produced Home Improvement.  In film, McFadzean produced What Women Want, starring Mel Gibson; Where the Heart Is, starring Natalie Portman; and Firelight, written and directed by Shadowlands author Bill Nicholson.   McFadzean is a founding board member of the New Harmony Writer’s Conference and is also on the Board of Directors of Act One: Writing for Hollywood and Reel Spirituality: An Institute for Moving Images.


J. Roberts Parks (Discussion Leader):
J. Roberts Parks is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College in Chicago, where he teaches courses on media theory, film, and advertising. He has also been a film critic for Time Out Chicago, Paste Magazine, and the Hyde Park Herald. When he's not watching 250 movies a year, he works with his church's youth group, does mission work, and ponders how evangelicals can better impact our culture.


William Romanowski (Critical Keynote):
William Romanowski is professor of communication arts at Calvin College, teaching courses in film, communication, and culture studies.  Romanowski is a prolific author, writing many works including Pop Culture Wars: Religion and the Role of Entertainment in American Life.  Romanowski's Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture received the ECPA Gold Medallion Award and was praised as “a lively and much needed Christian perspective on the popular arts.”  A three-part DVD series based on Eyes Wide Open was a 2002 Aegis Award Winner.  Romanowski has also worked as a musical performer and lecturer. The program at a rock festival in England referred to him as "an all-round brainy geezer and lovely with it." He took that as a compliment.

David Dark (Keynote Speaker):
David Dark is author of Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, The Simpsons, and Other Pop Culture Icons and The Gospel According To America: A Meditation On A God-Blessed, Christ-Haunted Idea, which was included in Publishers' Weekly 's top religious books of 2005.  He has presented at the Cinema Studies Conference, Arkansas Literary Festival, and Festival of Faith and Music.

Stephen Vidano:
Stephen Vidano earned a BA in Communication from Seattle Pacific University and started his film career in post-production at Seattle Post & Post Production.  Disappointed with the material he was editing, Vidano dreamed of taking the next step.  Since then, Stephen has directed and shot world-class productions across the globe. He most recent finished directing the documentary Star of Bethlehem and the made-for-TV movie Tilly, written by best-selling author Frank Peretti.

Robert K. Johnston (Keynote Speaker):
Robert K. Johnston is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and Co-Director of the Reel Spirituality Institute there. His books include Reel Spirituality, Theology and Film in Dialogue, 2nd edition (2000, 2006), Useless Beauty: Eccclesiastes through the Lens of Contemporary Film (2004), and with Catherine Barsotti, Finding God In the Movies: 33 Films of Reel Faith (2004). He is a former President of the American Theological society.

Phil Vischer (Keynote Speaker):
Phil Vischer is a writer, actor, animator, and the founder of Big Idea productions. He created Veggies Tales with Mike Nawrocki with nothing more than three interns and a computer in his spare bedroom. Although still working with Veggies Tales, he now devotes most of his time to the development of independent projects with his new creative shop, Jellyfish Studios. His account of his rollercoaster ride with Big Idea productions has just been published as Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables (2007).

Jeff Cain:
Jeff Cain is a conceptually based artist and designer whose work with new media, sculpture, and performance has been presented at the Getty Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and The Armand Hammer Museum. He is the founder and inventor of RHZ Radio, which was nominated for the Prix Ars Electronica in 2005. Currently, he is the director/curator of the Shed Research Institute and is on staff at the University of Southern California Roski School of Fine Arts.

J. Roberts Parks:
(see 2009 Guest Speakers)

Mike Hertenstein:
Mike has written about film for the web and print, created and overseen film festivals and film-related conferences, and made his own films. His books include The Double Vision of Star Trek and Selling Satan: The Tragic History of Mike Warnke. He currently directs program planning for the Flickerings film festival and the Imaginarium at the annual Cornerstone Festival.

James M. Wall (keynote speaker):
James M. Wall is a senior contributing editor to Christian Century Magazine, Chicago IL. He is an adjunct professor in Religion and Culture at Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, CA and a frequent ecumenical judge at film festivals at Montreal, Berlin, and Denver.