A shell explodes. The kerosene lamp flickers. Half soaked in mud and excrement, Louis continues a letter to his mother. Many of his comrades have fallen. Why is he chosen to carry on living, for the memory of the dead? As their Chaplain, he says a short prayer and continues to write.

The Gates is a short film that alludes to recent scandals and how many good priests have become lepers in the communities they serve -- suffering for the sins of others, they have become Christ, mocked and crucified. It is a universal tale shared by all who are painted by broad strokes of  hostile propaganda.

 

This will be our short festival entry for 2012. The main film will be 20 minutes in length with a derivative work of 30 seconds for TV broadcas and a web quest based education module and supporting web site, of high school and college level, that explores the current use of modern media to discolor religion, its proponents and pastors, and amplify the effect of the guilty upon the innocent.

We are shooting this production on new D-SLR equipment -- lowering the quality to cost dynamic of micro-budget film making even further.

Fund raising is currently underway as we hope to secure $15,000 to enable production. The screenplay uses a sprinkling of  allegory -- a WWI soldier writing home about the conditions on the front, his fallen confreres, and the nature of the war --  as we follow an aging street person in his encounter with his "neighbors" in a small community. In the closing shot, we see the old man standing on a hill overlooking the ocean. It is dark and the rain batters his face. For a moment his old trench coat collar is blown aside to reveal a Roman collar and we realize that the young soldier narrating the story of his war and the old man living his, are one.

The TV spot commercial can be leased to various ground level groups through out the U.S. and Canada who can then make arrangements to broadcast on local channels.

Production is tentatively slated for the fall of 2011.