Blind Faith, directed by Black, is about a man who meets Jesus, but has difficulty recognizing Him.
The film screens at the Churches Making Movies Christian Film Festival in Secaucus, New Jersey on Sunday, October 15th at 3:30 pm. For tickets, visit churchesmakingmovies.com
What is your film background?
I was born in Queens, New York to Beverly V. Washington and Mark S. Black.. When I first saw the Steven Spielberg movie Jurassic Park, I knew one day I wanted to work in film business. Diverting later in life from movies to post production / television engineering. I have worked on notable shows through Technicolor Postwork’s such as Chopped, Hardcore Pawn, Blue Bloods, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Eastbound & Down, WWE Raw, and National Hockey League broadcast games.
The first official short I directed was "CONFUSION" based on the story of an un-armed black male being shot down, by cops. "BLIND FAITH" is the second short, which I am very proud of. The short explores the "what if question": what if Jesus was right in front of you? Would you recognize him or believe him to be an insane man.
As a Christian, how do you see yourself impacting the film industry?
I would love Christian movies to become as big as superheroes movies. Here me out; there’s no reason there couldn’t be a biblical story franchise like Marvel has done. We got a book with numerous stories dating back to the dawn of time. I truly believe I as a Christian can create stories that can truly be family friendly, and give us a much excitement as watching Spiderman on the big screen.
What was the biggest challenge you overcame to make your film?
(A) The Christian genre obviously isn't for everyone. When I first approached the idea to a close friend of mine, he was skeptical of the story. He told me telling a story about Jesus in any capacity is a risky move. I told him if we, (because at the time he wanted to collaborate with me on a project), produce the short tastefully then it wouldn’t be risky move at all. He agreed to work with me on it for the first few months, then slowly stepped away from the project. He felt the content wasn’t his “cup of tea”.
(B) In creating Blind Faith I encounter the “oh he’s one of those people” look, when discussing the story. When discussing my script and concept in a non Christian environment I found that you get a certain look, as if you now had “cooties” or some other weird phenomenon occurring on the outer realm of your body. People would then follow up the look with “ah ha” head nod, and then proceed with, cordially listening to you for a few more minutes before scurrying off.
(C) Lastly finding a production crew wasn’t hard, but having them see Jesus Christ like you envison is not easy. Everybody who is brought up in Christian faith, has their own views of who Jesus is. Their own idea of what he looks like, speaks like, and even possibly sounds like. Finding a group of people that could see Jesus how I envisioned him for this film was hard.
Who are your biggest influences in film and why?
Steven Spielberg, one of cinemas pioneers. He succeeded in telling stories no one else was willing to do at the time, such as Back to the Future, The Color Purple, Amistad, Schindler’s List, and Jurassic Park.
What is the funniest or weirdest thing that has ever happened to you on set?
When it comes to shooting outside, you have to make sure you have the right paper work to do so. For the short Blind Faith we shot in Warwick NY. It was a beautiful setting, but in order to shoot outside we had to make sure we had the right paper work to do so. On one of the shooting days we had a fair amount of rain trenching down upon us, so we couldn’t shoot outside. We had to move our outside scene to the next day. Our location paper work speculated if you wish to shoot on any other day you have to pay an additional 200 dollars for the location. Which isn’t a lot, but the town hall where we would pay was closed because it’s Saturday. So the next day we prayed no one would stop us, like a cop. A cop did come through the set eventually, and asked us from his car. Do you have paper work to shoot here, and I said “Yes”. As I was reaching to grab it he titled his hat and shrug his arm, he said “okay”’ and kept it moving. If that happened in New York City we would have been shut down right then and there.
What is your favorite Bible verse? (please cut and paste it) And how does this influence your filmmaking?
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
It means for better or worse, there is a plain for me. Plans that will lead me to a good future.