“Raw Faith” and Nashville Film Festival

I returned on Monday from the Nashville Film Festival, where our film, “Raw Faith,” had its world premiere.  This was a “first” for me.  I thought I would tell you a little about it.

The Nashville Film Festival (NFF) is one of the oldest in the nation, and the selection of films was excellent.  I wasn’t able to see very many of them, because many of my family members gathered there for the premiere, and I wanted to visit with them, but one favorite film was “The Greatest,” with Susan Sarondon and Pierce Brosnon, about a family that loses a child and has to struggle through the grieving with one another.

There was a “Red Carpet” event for our film an hour before the premiere last Friday night.  I hardly knew what to expect–but it’s all about media.  Sheryl Crow was there (she wrote an original song, “Love Will Remain,” for the film) and she went first, standing against a backdrop, while 8 or 10 photographers from print media took dozens of pictures, flashbulbs popping.  She moved on to 5 or 6 quick TV interviews, the reporters lined up, asking questions, like, “How did you become connected with this film?”  Then the director, Peter Wiedensmith and I went together along the same route, first the print photographers, and then the TV interviews.

Having Sheryl Crow there was a real plus.  She is a beautiful person in all ways, and she was gracious and charming not only in doing the interviews (check out an interview on her community web site), but also in the meeting and greeting after the film.  The piece she wrote for us is an incredibly beautiful love song that moves me more every time I hear it.

Then we saw our film on the big screen for the first time!  It plays well. Peter’s talent as a director is evident, and “Raw Faith” holds together in a powerful and beautiful whole.  I have seen the final version 5 or 6 times now, you would think I would become bored seeing my own story over and over again–but as with any fine work of art, each time I see it, I experience more depth and resonance.

The most satisfying thing about the premiere was the response we received, both from critics and from festival film-goers.  People were deeply moved.  People cried.  People gushed.  It’s one thing to have friends and family of the filmmakers say their film is good, but the real test is when strangers–and in this case, strangers from a different part of the country–say they loved our film. 

I had no idea what would come of this film when I started.  Doing it at all was truly an act of faith.  I didn’t know Peter Wiedensmith and had no idea how talented he is, and how committed he would become to this film.  Maybe the film would reach a small audience in Portland, or play in a few hundred Unitarian Universalist churches.  I didn’t know.  But now it seems certain that “Raw Faith” will find a national audience and perhaps even an international audience.  It’s not about me, really–it’s about us: our disabling fears, our yearning for love, our search for meaning and purpose, our woundedness from the past that threatens the present.  And the film gives the strong message that faith, hope, and transformation are possiblities in all of our lives.

See more at www.rawfaith.com or www.facebook.com/RawFaith