November (Web-only) 2002

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Largely unknown Christians who direct imaginative, story-driven films will enjoy wider audiences because of the annual Damah Film Festival, which met on October 10 to 12 at the Seattle Art Museum.

Some winning films stream on the festival's website and others are available on two DVDs sold on the website. Others will join a touring festival (tentative cities for the 2002-03 tour are Boston, Boulder, Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, Portland, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Birmingham, England).

Damah, festival organizers say, is "an ancient Hebrew word that means a metaphor that transforms." The festival is the brainchild of a seven-member board. All board members are Christians, but they do not limit entries to films by Christians. Indeed, Damah welcomes entries under a theme of "spiritual experiences in film."

Damah's board watches all the submitted films, decides which to show during the festival, and nominates a shorter list (24 this year) to a jury of 11 film-industry professionals. The jury, consisting of both Christians and non-Christians, then selects winners in these categories:

• Up to 60 Seconds ($500 prize).
  
  
• Up to 5 Minutes ($2,500).
  
  
• Up to 15 Minutes ($2,500).
  
  
• Up to 30 Minutes ($2,500).
  
  
• Best of Show ($7,000).
  
  

This year's jurors included film critic Michael Medved, an observant Jew; New Age producer Stephen Simon (What Dreams May Come); and Scott Derrickson (Hellraiser: Inferno and Urban Legends: Final Cut) a graduate of Biola University and the University of Southern California.

...

One director, Sanjiban Sellew, makes humorous films about his New Age beliefs. In "The Fight That Never Ends" (streaming; DVD, Vol. 1), Sellew dons boxing gloves to fight God, pounds away at a large, upturned tree stump, and ...