Episode 18 - CWVFF Bonus episode with Festival Director, Phillip Telfer
Interview with Phillip Telfer, Founder and Director of the Christian Worldview Film Festival. The final part of a series of short bonus episodes from the 2024 festival.
The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every Monday, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers, talent agents, and distributors.
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Hey there, it's Geoff with Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast, and we are still here on site, At the Christian Worldview Film Festival.
Geoff:
It's been a great week so far.
Geoff:
And I'm talking with founder and director of CWVFF right now, Philip Telfer.
Geoff:
Thanks for talking with us today, Philip.
Phillip:
Well, thank you, Geoff.
Phillip:
Thanks for having me on your podcast.
Geoff:
Yeah, it's, a festival that has a lot of love.
Geoff:
And, people who keep coming back.
Geoff:
We've been here and hearing from so many of them.
Geoff:
I'd like you to tell us little bit about the, uh, the roots and how you got where you are today, what it's all about, so our listeners will know more.
Phillip:
Sure.
Phillip:
In 2013, in the summer, I began feeling led by God to intentionally reach out to Christian filmmakers, independent Christian filmmakers.
Phillip:
And to be whatever help we could be to encourage them, not only in their craft, but in their faith.
Phillip:
And, I'm not an expert in film, but I have been involved in filmmaking and the creative process for many years.
Phillip:
So I made a documentary called Captivated in 2011.
Phillip:
A feature length documentary, and then it was released in 2012.
Phillip:
And then I also experienced myself, film festival circuit, Christian film festival circuit, where you're, trying to get people to notice what you've done and get a little promotional, get those award laurels or just even official selection laurels.
Phillip:
So I had a pretty interesting experience.
Phillip:
Most of those festivals were poorly run, and, there wasn't a lot of thought that had been put into what best serves the content creators.
Phillip:
And so that was part of my desire not that, Oh, I think I can do it better.
Phillip:
My heart was not so much for creating an event as it was to helping people.
Phillip:
My day job, I'm a pastor.
Phillip:
that's what I do full time.
Phillip:
And, so it comes more from a pastoral heart that says, you know what, how can we help the body of Christ, uh, grow?
Phillip:
So in then 2013, we came to the agreement among my wife, myself, some friends, my board of directors, to launch the Christian Worldview Film Festival, which happened in March of 2014, our first annual event.
Geoff:
Yeah, and that
Geoff:
wasn't here in Georgia.
Phillip:
No, that was in Texas.
Phillip:
Yeah.
Phillip:
So, I'm from Texas, so we held that in San Antonio.
Phillip:
And we invited filmmakers to submit their films.
Phillip:
We didn't have a lot of money to give away.
Phillip:
And it was very driven by social media, very community sourced.
Phillip:
But we had like 700 people show up that first year.
Phillip:
We had over a hundred films submitted.
Phillip:
And when people came, I think what they were most surprised about was that we intentionally made a big do about Jesus Christ.
Phillip:
You know, we were like, we were making.
Phillip:
We, we really wanted to keep Christ in Christian and not just be Christian in name only, and have Jesus kind of tacked on to a film festival.
Phillip:
We wanted him to be at the core of everything we did, the foundation and, but you can't do that unless you as leaders and your team, that everybody's on the same page to say, this is really what we're going to be about.
Phillip:
So we're going to be unashamed about that.
Phillip:
And we're actually going to, from the very beginning, we're just going to let people know this is what we're doing.
Phillip:
We don't expect you to want to be a part of that.
Phillip:
But if you want to be a part of that, this is what we're doing.
Phillip:
And you know what we found?
Phillip:
There's a lot of people that really want to be a part of something like that.
Phillip:
Yeah.
Geoff:
So tell me, what does the festival look like today?
Geoff:
You mentioned how it started, and you also mentioned that as you went to festivals, I think you used the words, Some of them weren't really that good, and there's no doubt that CWVFF is quite good.
Geoff:
And what does it look like for those who haven't been?
Phillip:
Sure.
Phillip:
Well, one interesting thing is that we don't just have a film festival where you're coming to watch films and go to an awards ceremony.
Phillip:
We do that, but we also have what we call the Filmmakers Guild, which we've done from year one.
Phillip:
It's a week long conference, and so we take the first few days and I invite up to 30 people from the industry, from various skills in the various crafts that go into filmmaking.
Phillip:
And that's not just camera, that could be marketing, that could be anything, you know.
Phillip:
So, we bring them together to help pour into, not only emerging filmmakers, but also but also the veteran filmmakers.
Phillip:
So we're always trying to make sure that we have various levels or degrees of expertise represented to meet a little wider audience.
Phillip:
During our guild, we have breakout sessions.
Phillip:
So at any given time there's six classes where that's happening right now while we're making this interview.
Phillip:
There's six classes happening.
Phillip:
There's six unique classes.
Phillip:
You have to pick one depending on your interest.
Phillip:
And then we have our main sessions.
Phillip:
Our main sessions are more focused on the spiritual aspects.
Phillip:
Encouraging people to walk closely with Jesus, to know that God's favor is their greatest asset in filmmaking.
Phillip:
And, so that's really a little bit about ourselves.
Phillip:
Cool.
Phillip:
I know we've talked about doing a longer interview a little further down the road, so we'll get to learn more.
Phillip:
One of the things that you've talked about is the core values of the festival.
Phillip:
Maybe you can touch on one or two right now.
Phillip:
Sure.
Phillip:
It won't be surprising from what you've already said, but yeah.
Phillip:
And core values are important because we're not about just making an event, but about serving an existing movement.
Phillip:
See, movements exist aside from individuals or events.
Phillip:
And so what the question is, is what is this movement that's happening?
Phillip:
Well, this is a movement of filmmakers who desire to keep Christ a t the core of everything they do.
Phillip:
There are others that really don't make that emphasis in their own personal lives.
Phillip:
That's okay.
Phillip:
There's other events for them that serve that purpose.
Phillip:
So we want it to be an event that serves a movement of filmmakers that's happening.
Phillip:
And so with that, you have to let people know what are we about.
Phillip:
So our couple of our top core values, number one is Jesus Christ is preeminent.
Phillip:
And that comes from Colossians chapter one.
Phillip:
And it just means that Jesus is above all things.
Phillip:
There's nothing above Him.
Phillip:
He is over.
Phillip:
That means He's over us as individuals.
Phillip:
He's over the whole world.
Phillip:
He's over films and filmmaking.
Phillip:
And if we don't understand that, then everything's gonna be upside down.
Phillip:
If we're gonna try to just like tack Jesus on.
Phillip:
Like, people don't think of that.
Phillip:
They see when the Bible says to do things in the name of Jesus.
Phillip:
That doesn't mean just like add the name of Jesus at the end of that.
Phillip:
It means you're doing it as a representative of him, you're doing in his name.
Phillip:
And then the second one, it kind of dovetails.
Phillip:
The second core value is humility is not optional because you know, in this space, when you're talking about creatives, especially every person, non creatives, I guess, and some way we're all kind of creative, but outside that space, everybody struggles with pride.
Phillip:
That's a, that's a core sin.
Phillip:
But you get into the creative space and now heads can really get big very quickly.
Phillip:
So we thought, you know, this would be an important core value that, uh, humility is not optional.
Phillip:
Jesus is above everything.
Phillip:
And yet he lowered himself to serve humanity.
Phillip:
And he took the form of a servant and washed people's feet and gave us the example.
Phillip:
And he says, I want you to model your lives after me.
Phillip:
Filmmakers don't get a pass.
Phillip:
They're not, you know, it's like, Oh, I'm a filmmaker.
Phillip:
I don't have to be humble.
Phillip:
You know, it's like, no, no, no.
Phillip:
Jesus is God and he chose to be humble.
Phillip:
And so we need to humble ourselves.
Phillip:
And that, and what that looks like is when I'm speaking to our team, as we prepare for this, we're encouraging them, Walk in humility.
Phillip:
When we are inviting speakers, I encourage them, look, the most important person in the room is not you, it's Jesus Christ.
Phillip:
Uh huh.
Phillip:
And we don't have an us and them mentality here.
Phillip:
We're like, you know what, we're all sheep.
Phillip:
Yeah.
Phillip:
Yeah.
Phillip:
I think.
Geoff:
I, I just want to point out that, um, what you're saying is very significant about Jesus being preeminent in filmmaking, in everything we do, but I'll just point it out,
Geoff:
you're not saying that every film is going to be the same, that every film is going to be evangelistic, that every film is a gospel story.
Geoff:
Every filmmaker is doing different work.
Geoff:
Yes.
Geoff:
Some of them may not be telling an overt gospel story.
Geoff:
So that's not the point that you're making.
Phillip:
No.
Phillip:
No, in fact, that's why I was very intentional that we called this the Christian worldview film festival.
Phillip:
Because We need to be making our projects out of a Christian worldview.
Phillip:
And out of that Christian worldview, yes, some people are going to be called to make overt gospel sermons, but the Bible says whatever is lovely, whatever has a good reputation, whatever's good, you know, let your mind think about these things.
Phillip:
You know, there's a, there's a lot of ways that stories and, information can be told.
Phillip:
that may not be as overt as others, but it should come out of a Christian worldview.
Geoff:
Which will influence our culture and our society.
Geoff:
Well, I think we've got a good taste of what the festival is about, and I really appreciate you taking this time to talk with me.
Geoff:
And as I said, I'll really look forward to talking more.
Geoff:
We're going to do this interview longer and a little bit later, but I appreciate that.
Geoff:
Thanks, Geoff.
Geoff:
Hopefully
Phillip:
my voice will be better then, too, because I almost lost it this week.
