Stop your search. The future is waiting within you...send us an awesome entry...
Erwin McManus's new book and dvd series, "Wide Awake: The Future is Waiting Within You," is now available in bookstores. The dvd features "five compelling short films" inspired by the book "Wide Awake."
As part of the promotional campaign for this new book, the official Erwin McManus website, http://erwinmcmanus.com/ links to a contest in which entrants are asked to submit a short 2 minute video or 200 word essay, but this isn't the only "contest" associated with Erwin McManus' new book; an entire film festival has been created around the book and DVD; "Wide Awake."
Mosaic.org now has this notice on it's front page:
*MOSAIC LA FILM FESTIVAL
Life is not a montage. It is a thousand short films back-to-back that illuminate our victories, tragedies, and revelations. For this reason we invite you to submit films and join us for the Mosaic LA Film Fest, which will be on Nov 8. It is here that we want to spotlight the storied potential of humanity. Visit www.mosaiclafilmfest.com for more information.
Here is the link to the official Mosaic LA Film Festival website:
http://www.mosaiclafilmfest.com/main.html
The "about" link states that "*The 2008 Mosaic LA Film Festival is sponsored by Mosaic and Awaken.*" The MosaicLA Film Festival website is still under construction and many of its links are not yet operational.
What is the Mosaic LA Film Festival?
The Mosaic LA Film Festival (MOLAFF) is themed around the 8 concepts discussed in the book "Wide Awake": Dream, Explore, Adapt, Create, Invest, Enjoy, Focus, Expect. The festival appears to be open to the general public.
Contestants are required to pay an entrance fee and cash prizes are offered for the top winners along with "perks."
According to their "mission statement" MOLAFF:
The official MOLAFF "guidelines" state:"will give filmmakers the opportunity to engage their art, beliefs, and purpose to create inspired, meaningful films."
http://www.mosaiclafilmfest.com/guidelines.html
"We are daring you to move us--that's why we welcome films that test the boundaries of comfort. But entries that exhibit gratuitously violent, sexual, or otherwise offensive content will not be accepted."
Comments about MOLAFF
Entrance Fees
Please note that the entry fees for this film festival are being collected by Mosaic and not Awaken.
The Mosaic LA Film Festival entry form, http://www.mosaiclafilmfest.com/MOLA_Entry_Form_2008.pdf, states:
Please send your fee as a money order or cashier's check (in U.S. dollars) to Mosaic LA.
Remember, the non-profit organization named "Awaken" has had its corporate status suspended by the state of California. [See my previous post, "Erwin McManus and the McName Game,"] http://solidfoods.blogspot.com/2008/07/erwin-mcmanus-and-mcname-game.html
As a church, Mosaic is automatically tax exempt under IRS 501c regulations. It is not clear if such an exemption extends to income generated by "entry fees" for a film festival. Mosaic may have to report these monies as unrelated business income (UBI.)
Nature of the film festival
There is a brief reference to Erwin McManus near the bottom of the MOLAFF submissions page:
These concepts were derived from the new book Wide Awake [link] by Erwin Raphael McManus. Participants wanting to buy the book can do so at amazon.com or any bookstore.
Nowhere on the MOLAFF website, http://www.mosaiclafilmfest.com/main.html, does it mention that one of the sponsors is a church. The closest it comes to mentioning this fact is a hyperlink to Mosaic http://www.mosaic.org/.
A truly odd point is that the hyperlink to Awaken doesn't lead to the official Awaken.org website but takes you instead to a separate site, http://www.wideawakethefilms.com/. This is a promotional website for Erwin McManus' new book/dvd "Wide Awake", it even has an online store where you can purchase these materials.
The official Awaken.org, http://awaken.org/, doesn't mention the Mosaic LA film festival.
The most interesting aspect of this film festival though is in the"perks." http://www.mosaiclafilmfest.com/perks.html
One of those perks is the opportunity to have one's work included in the next "Wide Awake" dvd series. Since the theme of the festival is "Wide Awake" it's hard not to think that the primary reason for hosting this festival isn't about giving artists:
. . . but is rather an attempt to generate new (and over-head free) material for Erwin McManus!". . . the opportunity to engage their art, beliefs, and purpose to create inspired, meaningful films"
But hey, artists, go ahead and enter. After all, it's your entrance fees . . . your concepts . . . your hard work . . . your intellectual property rights . . .
Stop your search. The future is waiting within you...send us an awesome entry...
Yvonne W.
UPDATE: September 12, 2008
Mosaic has issued a press release for the Mosaic LA Film Festival. It can be found at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/5883592/mosaic-press-release The date on the release is September 8, 2008.
In this press release, Mosaic announces that the location for the film festival will be the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles, CA.
"We're really interested in seeing life-changing filmmaking,"said Shannon Black, the festival's head organizer. "We hope that everyone who participates-filmmakers as well as those who attend and volunteer-will experience a positive change in the way that they view the world, and each other."*
What really interests me is the language this press release uses to describe "partners" Mosaic.org and Awaken.org- "two nonprofits dedicated to creatively serving the Los Angeles area and beyond."
Which nonprofit "Awaken" is the press release referring to? The California registered corporation Awaken Humanity which is "doing business as" Awaken or the California registered Awaken which has had its corporate status suspended by the state?
Then there is this description:
"The 2008 Mosaic LA Film Festival is sponsored by Mosaic.org and Awaken.org. collaborative community-serving organizations headquartered in Pasadena, CA."
Collaborative community-serving organizations? Does the writer of this press release really expect readers to forget the sentence that immediately precedes this one?
"The festival theme "Wide Awake" was inspired by a book of the same title written by Erwin Raphael McManus, leader of Mosaic Church, a creative community with satellite campuses across the greater Los Angeles area."
Well, at least the organizers for MOLAFF have finally identified Mosaic as "a church."
Alas, another disturbing bit of semantic juggling occurs in this line:
"It is anticipated that some entries will be chosen for the Awaken short film series distributed by Lions Gate and Indelible."
What's missing from this line, " . . . the Awaken short film series," is the actual title and author: "Wide Awake" by Erwin Raphael McManus.
Dear readers, this is one press release where you really should read between the lines, and it helps to rearrange them too.
Yvonne W.
*Withoutabox lists Gabriel Lawrence, filmmaker, as the organizer for this event. https://www.withoutabox.com/03film/03t_fin/03t_fin_fest_01over.php?festival_id=7241
P.S. I just googled Silent Film Theater in Los Angeles and came across their blog. Please check out the entry for Tuesday, September 9, 2008, "Is He Your Friend?" (referring to Jesus.)
http://www.silentmovietheatre.com/blog/index.html
Is this the venue Mosaic has chosen for it's film festival? A theater that held a "mondo Christploitation night?" Readers, I urge you to explore the rest of the Silent Movie Theater's website on your own. http://www.silentmovietheatre.com/
P.P.S. Here is a direct link to what the "mondo christploitation night" was all about and what movies were viewed.
A Word of Caution: This link contains bad language and inappropriate subject matter for small children.
http://www.silentmovietheatre.com/calendar/saturday_late.html
Quote from this site:
"Who says Christians don’t like exploitation? Evangelical filmmakers are filmmakers too--they want to engage, excite, scare and please their audience with the best rip-roarin' tale they can--but with a message too!"
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