WASHINGTON (CNS) The John Paul II International Film Festival is set to take place over the last weekend of October in Miami, but co-director Frank Brennan said the organisers still have a lot to do before the event kicks off. Brennan has been working alongside two other co-directors since March to put together the event. He said they hope to make it an annual occurrence. In the future, he said, he hopes the festival will expand to include other forms of art and theater, but this year he wants to keep it simple.
"For this year for us it’s been: Stick to the films, stick to the festival, show the films," Brennan told Catholic News Service in an interview. "Show the art and then at the same time show how faith is applied through the films."
The biggest challenge for the team so far, Brennan said, has been dealing with time constraints. Most festivals, he said, take close to a year and a half to plan but these planners only allotted themselves nine months. Together he, his fiance, Laura Alvarado, and Rafael Anrrich have been constantly picking each other up and keeping each other focused on their goal, he said.
The festival directors are searching for published or unpublished films that coincide with what they consider to be Pope John Paul II’s three most important values: human dignity, the sanctity of life and Christian unity.
The festival is open to people of all faiths and, as long as videos promote one of Pope John Paul’s values, filmmakers may submit them to the event.
Brennan said he and Alvarado are both passionate about films and started a company together called 7eventhDay Films. Alvarado took an interest in theater when she was 9 years old. In 2007 she graduated with a degree in fine arts from the New World School of the Arts, a Miami conservatory. Since then, she has produced five independent films. Brennan said he discovered his passion for writing, directing and producing films as a freshman in high school.
Anrrich also found his passion for religious films during his first year of high school after experiencing a "deep personal conversion" while watching "The Ten Commandments." He now works as a therapist to children, adolescents and adults, but has wanted to pursue his idea of a film festival for at least four years, Brennan said.
With time and money short, only a small number of videos at the festival will have been specifically made for the event, Brennan said. The majority of videos that will be included have already been released, but have not gotten as much attention in Hollywood, partially because they lack expensive special effects, he said. These films have good substance but have had a hard time making money in Hollywood, he added.
Before July, the team struggled to find financial support, and even with recent donations Brennan said the festival was still in need of funding and sponsors. To show the festival directors’ appreciation, Brennan said he would like to provide a ticket for one student from each of the Catholic schools in the area who exhibits a passion for any type of art.
"Youth is a big target in this," Brennan said.
He planned to have special events designed specifically for children including a concert. Tickets will cost $8 for adults, $6 for students and $5 for children.
When he spoke recently to CNS, the event was mostly ready to go, though the team was still in the process of creating a panel of judges who will score films for various awards. Brennan said judges would mainly consist of Hollywood filmmakers and a few theologians, though he would not release the names of any judges who had already agreed to participate.
In an e-mail to CNS, Alvarado said the festival has received the support of the Miami Archdiocese and the Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as the Beckett Fund, a religious liberty law firm.
In March, Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami commended the festival’s directors "for undertaking the call of our late Holy Father to encourage Catholics to use their God-given talents to promote what is beautiful, right and good for people of faith and all men and women of good will."
"Please be assured of my prayers for the success of this endeavor," he wrote in a letter.