An Interview with David Wood, Executive Producer

The Problem

“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”  This admonition by Pope John Paul II rings a prophetic tone in our world today. The basic structure of our society, the family, as ordained by God is now fractured and endangered.

And who’s to blame? Most fingers point to Hollywood television and media. There’s no doubt children are bombarded with too many negative values from media. According to Carl Boyd, media has replaced the home, school and church as the number one influence in a child’s life.  Dr. Armand Nicholi of Harvard University noted that media is one of the many reasons the family is in crisis today.

So what if God inspired His people gifted in media to influence the culture towards Him and His design? That’s exactly what’s happening today. We are living in days similar to Israel and the Judges. As God’s people pray, God is raising up His people and using their talents to bring the lost fold back to Him.

The Solution

The Pan Pacific Film Festival (PPFF) is one of many film festivals across this nation whose mission is to stand in the gap. It is a mission-based film festival dedicated to reaching a broken world with the love of Jesus Christ. PPFF distributes films through TV channels, DVD’s, Smartphone Apps, churches, and missionaries.

They accomplish this by encouraging Christian filmmakers with God-inspired visions, supporting positive influences in media and distributing films globally.  This organization holds to the Statement of Faith by the National Association of Evangelicals which includes important doctrines such as the Bible as the inspired, infallible Word of God, the Trinity, and the deity and virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

PPFF’s Mission

Their mission statement reveals the heart of PPFF:

Media shapes the values of our families, our communities, our world. Through positive media, the PPFF aims to restore the core values of faith, hope, and love. We are a family and faith-friendly film festival dedicated to using positive media to inspire change in the world, because we believe in the beauty of film to reach, to move, and to inspire people globally.

The Backing of Many Faithful

The PPFF has many partners such as The Christian Post, Mastermedia International (Dr. Larry Poland), and Robert Lee Rush. The festival has a board of spiritual directors including Dr. Luis Bush (a pastor with a heart for the unreached world, the 10/40 window), and Dr. Paul Kang, Senior Pastor of the World Bible Presbyterian Church.  The festival also has professional advisers such as Ted Baehr, the Founder and Publisher of Movieguide. His ministry reviews films for family discernment.

The festival includes film competitions in the following areas:  Missions, Short Narrative, Feature Narrative, Documentary, and Animation.  They also award Best Commercial, Web-video, Church Media, and they recognize categories such as Best Actor, Actress, Screenplay, Cinematographer, and Soundtrack.  Deadlines for 2012 competitions were August 31, 2012; however, creative minds can begin planning ideas for 2013.

PPFF has a variety of workshops for filmmakers who desire to learn from faith-based Hollywood professionals.  A sampling of the workshops include:  “How to write a Godly Script” (Ted Baehr), “The Growing Faith Family Film Industry” (Annelie Rudlaff), “Using the Hollywood System for God’s Purpose” (Sean Dunn) and “How to be a Godly Talent in Hollywood” (Ron Kardashian).

This first class film festival is bathed in prayer. It will be held at the Westfield Mall in Santa Anita, CA (just outside of Los Angeles) on October 18 – 21, 2012. For more information send an email to info@panpacificfilm.com, call 1- 888-564-6890, or go to www.ippff.com.

As the Executive Director of PPFF, David Wood shared some insights with me regarding this festival.

SCH – David, what prompted you to get connected with this festival and how did it get started?

David – The film festival was started by my Korean friends, Ken & Sallie An, who have a heart for Hollywood. Ken co-founded GMIT (Global Media & IT), a mission organization utilizing media and technology which hosts PPFF. He has been in the IT industry for more than 20 years, and has tried to connect IT with the mission ministry for the past 10 years. Sallie currently serves at the Chief Financial Officer and Intercessory Director of the PPFF. They were introduced to me by our mutual friend and ministry leader Louis Bush.

SCH – I noticed you will be leading a workshop entitled “How to Make Movie’s God’s Way”. Can you whet our appetites on this topic?

David – God gave me an idea for us to be spiritual producers first and foremost and allowing Him to lead the project.  It’s how we’re making the feature film “The Resurrection.”

SCH – Tell us about your call in filmmaking. When did you first sense God moving you to make faith and family –friendly films in Hollywood?

David – This journey started for me 11 years ago when I had a Damascus Road encounter with God in my home. I was a veteran in Hollywood for 21 years before that laboring on the wrong side. I worked with companies like MTV, Star Search, NBC, CBS, all the movie studios, and record labels. God gave me a vision to make a difference for His Kingdom. God has given me the spiritual gift of knowing how to market and brand to the entire world. God protected me during my dark days and He has used my background in Hollywood to enable me to minister the beauty of His truth through film to the world.

SCH - As a former mission board trustee, I was impressed with your emphasis on missions and your offer to distribute the festival’s yearly collection of translated films at a reasonable price. Can you explain how this works?

David – We take the content of all of our submitted films (over 100 this year alone) and translate them into as many languages as possible. Then we allow those nations and cultures to use them as a mission tool in their communities and homes by using technology. The DVD’s are reasonable. Missionaries and overseas churches with financial hardships can receive the DVD’s at a lower cost.

SCH – What are the admission prices for PPFF?

David – The prices are reasonable ranging from $10-25 dollars a day to $100 for the full VIP treatment, parties, and red carpet and awards event on Saturday.

SCH - Is your festival promoting the making of films that will inspire children raised in today’s toxic culture to overcome the obstacles they face?

David – That’s exactly what we’re doing. It’s all about putting better content into the Hollywood system to impact the Globe. We call it Family Faith as a category just like Drama or Action.

SCH – What will be different about this year’s festival?

David – This year we have partnered with Westfield Malls, so the whole event is taking place on the grounds of the mall which includes theaters, restaurants, and shops. This allows our guests and the general public to be exposed to the film festival.

 

Check out the video invitation to the 2012 Pan Pacific Film Festival

Want more of Ginny? Check out  Are You In The World Or Of The World?

Learn more about the author Ginny Dent Brant