Catholic Hollywood Film Showcase

Speaking of Hollywood films...

Aramis' good buddy, film maker Gerard Straub founder of the The San Damiano Foundation will be presenting a compilation of segments from his numerous films on Franciscan poverty and prayer during the premiere of the Catholic Hollywood Film Showcase. See the Press Release below for more details.

Interestingly enough, I read yesterday from Amy Welborn's Open Book Gone Hollywood page that The Catholic Reporter ran a story on David J. Hartline's new book, The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism and in it he talks about where there are cracks in the glamour, glitz and garbage of Hollywood films the light is starting to break in.

Press Release

Catholic Hollywood Film Showcase

The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress announces the premiere of the Catholic Hollywood Film Showcase on the evenings of March 2 and 3. For the first time at the L.A. Congress, films and documentaries from the Hollywood Catholic community will be shown during this annual gathering of over 30,000 Catholics from around the world.

The Film Showcase will screen films and documentaries from Catholic production companies from Hollywood. Seven companies have submitted films to be shown: Pluma Productions, Loyola Productions, Family Theater Productions, Paulist Productions, Mud Puddle Films, Hope Media Productions and the San Damiano Foundation. An animated short entitled, The Very First Noel, will also be shown. A special feature will be a short film that screened in Cologne at the 2005 World Youth Day, Inigo Film Festival which was the inspiration for this showcase.

There is a large Catholic film community in Hollywood that influences and produces religious, spiritual, and social justice themed videos, documentaries, and films. This is a little known community that is growing in impact and influence. Catholic networking and prayer organizations include Catholics in Media Associates, Open Call, and the Catholic Communicators of Southern California.

The Showcase is on March 2 and 3rd, from 8-10:30PM, in Anaheim Hilton Hotel’s Pacific Room A. Producers and directors of the films will be on hand after the screening to answer questions and discuss their work.

The producers for this Showcase are Fr. Ron Schmidt, S.J. and John Flaherty.

For additional information contact Fr. Schmidt at reschmidt@hotmail.com.


You can access information on the Catholic Hollywood Film Showcase by linking here and then click on "Download the Program Book" and scroll down to page 6. You will find a brief description of the showcase and further down the page is the info on Gerry Straub's photo exhibition.