Fuller Students Engaging Independent Films

For many students at Fuller Theological Seminary, the idea of taking a class involving a trip to the Sundance Film Festival sounds too good to be true.

“How often are you given the chance to experience and immerse yourself in the beauty of well-made and challenging films?” said Jessi Knippel, a Fuller Master of Theology student whose emphasis is film. She enrolled in Fuller’s “Theology, Film, and Culture: Engaging Independent Films” course, enabling her to attend the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. She said the opportunity was a dream come true.

“Films, especially Sundance films, have been a powerful point of connection for how I read and understand the world around me,” said Knippel.

Kutter Callaway, an affiliate professor that teaches Theology and Culture, is in his third year leading the class, but he has been involved with the process for five–as a teacher’s assistant, and also designer of the online component of the course. With a PhD in Theology and Culture, he said one of his primary theological concerns had to do with discovering the role film has in theology, spirituality and Christianity.

“My initial interest wasn’t regarding film, but more to do with how people are using these cultural stories to make sense of their life, and how do I as a person of faith connect what God’s doing in the world with what they’re saying in the film?” said Callaway.

Created by Will Stoller-Lee, director of Fuller Seminary in Colorado, Fuller alum John Pretty and Craig Detweiler, the Fuller/Sundance tradition began as a one-week intensive course, some readings and a final paper.

“Although students loved the trip to Sundance and the conversations it generated, many wondered how to relate their experience to their communities theologically,” said Callaway.

It was with this premise that Stoller-Lee organized the Windrider Film Forum–a forum held as part of the Colorado College Summer Festival of the Arts, which has brought in engaging films and filmmakers for community dialogues on topics of religious faith, culture, and social change.

“Filmmakers love to talk about why they made the film,” said Callaway. “It really makes for a constructive conversation about art, culture, faith and spirituality.”

The possibility of hearing filmmakers in person “sealed the deal” for Richard Goodwin, who graduated in June, 2012, with an MAT and a Theology and the Arts emphasis, to attend Fuller.

“We had the screenwriter of “Higher Ground,” Carolyn Briggs, drop by the Windrider Forum, along with Alrick Brown and his team of filmmakers behind the Audience Choice winner, Kinyarwanda,” said Goodwin.

In preparation for the class, he read “Reel Spirituality,” by Rob Johnson, and “Scoring Transcendence,” by Callaway, which discusses theology and film music.

“I learned to be more attentive to the role of music in film,” said Goodwin.

But in addition to dialoguing with filmmakers and seeing music in a theological light, the class exceeded Goodwin’s expectations in other ways.

“Spirituality was the hot topic of the festival the year I attended, and so there were a lot of significant films and resultant conversations that stuck with me–specifically questions and conversations around forgiveness and justice,” he said.

Avril Speaks, a student at Fuller Seminary looking forward to taking the class this winter quarter, is also pursuing an MAT with a Theology and the Arts emphasis.

“The fact that Fuller embraces Sundance films gave me a little insight into what type of program Fuller has,” said Speaks. “I knew this was the school for me, because these are the types of films that speak to me the most.”

Speaks said she is particularly looking forward to the question and answer sessions with the directors.

“Sometimes it’s hard to understand the true meaning of a film until you have the opportunity to talk to its creator and hear what the original intent was,” she said. “Understanding the artist sometimes goes a long way in understanding the art.”

Students getting a master’s with a Theology and the Arts emphasis fall within the Fuller Brehm Center, where students can earn an MA or PhD in Theology, Art, Culture, and Worship.

“I love that the classes within the Brehm Center tend to meet me right where I am at the crossroads in the conversation of film and theology,” said Speaks.

Students from Biola University, Regent College, Brigham Young University and elsewhere also take part in the Sundance Film Festival and Windrider Forum. This year the “Engaging Independent Films” class organizers are starting a pastor’s track for people who are not taking the class for academic credit, but want to come and partner with Fuller in having conversations about faith.

“The Windrider Forum is open to anyone in pastoral ministry with an emphasis in how you engage culture, even if you’re not a student,” said Callaway.

If you are interested in participating in this class, please contact Kutter Callaway at (626) 584-5683 for additional information.