Christian Film makes History by winning FOUR AWARDS!

I long for the day, if it should ever come, when a Christian movie is done with such quality and skill that it could one day be nominated for an Oscar.  Do I think it will ever happen? I really don’t.  However, this year was a historic year in Christian Film Making.  For the first time in the 35 year history of the Razzie Awards, a Christian film has won.  And not just one award, but four! I know, I wrote about this before, but lets just say that I was not expecting four awards… and if either of the two Christian films nominated, I was not expecting this movie to be the one who won!  The big winner at the 35^th Razzie Awards was Kirk Cameron and his film Saving Christmas!

The Awards won are as follows:
Worst Picture

Worst Actor – Kirk Cameron

Worst Screenplay

Worst Screen Combo – Kirk Cameron and his ego

I already laid out in a previous post that you can view HERE why this is a good thing but let me summarize.  This is not religious persecution, Christian movies have never even been nominated in the past, and if you wanted to mock Christians, the much lower hanging fruit is “God’s Not Dead.” I am not saying it deserved it, I am just saying it has name recognition, poor quality and a more overtly Christian message. The reason it was nominated was because finally, Christian films are being held to the standard of secular films.  It is a win for Christian movies!… well.. partly… See, in order to actually make this a win the Christian Movie Industry needs to take note! It needs to realize that they can no longer slide by with substandard films.  My hope is that this will lead to pressure to be mindful of quality while making a film.

Do I think it is fair that Cameron’s film was the winner? NO! I have not seen the film but it seems like a random pick to me. I felt Left Behind Should have won.  Do I also think the award for Worst Screen Combo is fair? NO! Actually, it was the only one of these nominations that actually made me feel they went too far.  I am a fan of Kirk Cameron, I am not one of those people who rolls my eyes because he is in a movie, the guy has talent and don’t even try to tell me he doesn’t! Some people roll their eyes because the movies he is choosing are very in your face Christian.  Do I feel there is anything wrong with that? No. Let the man make the type of movies he wants to make.  Hollywood if full of people who make movies with a message in it that they want to push.  Cameron has a message he wants to push.  A message that I personally like and agree with.  I am rooting for him to succeed in his efforts.  Do I think he has a big ego? I don’t know him personally but I have not seen anything that would make me say that especially over Nicholas Cage and his ego or Megan Fox and her ego.  By putting him in this category like this without doing the same to some of these others really does frustrate me but, oh well. It happened, time to move on.

What would I say to Kirk Cameron right now? If I was sitting next to him when he discovered he won four Razzies I would remind him that he is being watched.  That is a good thing.  However, the reason I think he was chosen over some of the other movies like God’s Not Dead is because he is Kirk Cameron! He has been doing this a long time and maybe some people are feeling that someone with his experience and name recognition should be capable of something better and to that I would agree.  Cameron has the resources and the talent to do fantastic things.  He really could be helping to elevate the perception of Christian films.  I would say:

“Kirk, can I call you Kirk? You had a bright career ahead of you.  You fell out of the spot light for a little bit but you came back into it.  You have fans and you deserve to have fans! Now is the time to elevate your name and in doing so elevate the name of the one you represent! Hire good writers for projects and don’t settle for anything less than great!  Find projects that are high quality! Guard your career because you have set yourself up as an actor who represents the name of Jesus.  When you find substandard projects and put your name to it you are also putting his name to it.  Now, I have not seen Saving Christmas, it was not playing anywhere near me so maybe this movie totally doesn’t deserve the flack it is getting but I do believe this advice is still relevant.”

Winning these awards is because the standard has been raised.  I am happy for this because this is the same reason I started this blog.  I want to help raise that standard! I want Christians to demand movies that are worthy of the name of Christ not just settle for movies that tug on your emotions.  Sometimes I feel this is all the Church has come to expect of God.  They believe God showed up at a church services because they became emotional, therefore if a movie makes me emotional than it is worthy of the name of Christ.  The problem is that having an emotional connection to a film does not speak to the quality.  We can have movies that are emotional… and good.  This is what I want!  This is what I want Christian movies goers to want! The capability is there! We just need someone to stand up and raise the bar for themselves! Mr. Cameron is in position to do that and I hope he does.  He can be the hero I am looking for within the Christian film industry.

So, congratulations on winning the Razzie! Congratulations that the film industry WANTS to take you more seriously! Congratulations for having the spotlight! Congratulations for being in the position to push Christian film making to the next step! I pray God blesses you and that through you we can be blessed by the content you will put out from here on out!