Bonus: Hard Faith Festival New York

Geoff: 00:00:00

Hey there.

Geoff: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast.

Geoff: 00:00:02

I'm Geoff and I am excited to be with you today for a special bonus episode.

Geoff: 00:00:07

We've got Spencer t Fulmar with us.

Geoff: 00:00:10

Uh, Spencer's actually been a guest before on our podcast, and I'll refer back to those episodes a little bit later.

Geoff: 00:00:16

Uh, but today we're here to talk specifically about hard faith festival first regional event, and it's gonna be a New York City coming up in December.

Geoff: 00:00:26

Welcome Spencer.

Spencer: 00:00:27

Thanks much for having me, Geoff.

Spencer: 00:00:29

Love the work that you and Jaclyn do at Faith and Family Filmmakers.

Spencer: 00:00:32

That's amazing.

Geoff: 00:00:33

you so much.

Geoff: 00:00:34

Thank you.

Geoff: 00:00:34

Spencer is an accomplished filmmaker, a producer and founder of Hard Faith Films, a production company dedicated to telling raw, authentic stories That inspire transformation and faith.

Geoff: 00:00:45

With over a decade of experience.

Geoff: 00:00:47

Spencer's passion lies in creating stories that liberate audiences blend his deep faith with a dynamic cinematic vision.

Geoff: 00:00:55

And of course, he's also the driving force behind the hard faith film festival championing diverse voices in faith-based cinema.

Geoff: 00:01:03

So Spencer, I believe this year marked the third year for your, um, your flagship festival in Hollywood.

Geoff: 00:01:09

tell us about that.

Spencer: 00:01:10

Yes, sir. Um, yes.

Spencer: 00:01:12

This was our third year of doing the Hard Faith Film Festival in Hollywood, California.

Spencer: 00:01:16

Each year it grows by audience attendance, by submissions, and by another day.

Spencer: 00:01:21

So the first year is one day, then two day, three day next year it's gonna be four days.

Spencer: 00:01:28

And so it keeps growing.

Spencer: 00:01:29

Um, I've been doing hard faith.

Spencer: 00:01:31

Like I started the the company

Spencer: 00:01:33

back when I was in

Spencer: 00:01:34

seminary in

Spencer: 00:01:35

2011, so I've been doing it for almost 15 years now.

Spencer: 00:01:40

But it's been really rewarding doing the hard faith film festival these last few years because I get to see all the work that people are already doing in this space.

Geoff: 00:01:47

it's great to, uh, work with other people and share what you are doing and, you get more of a feel for what's going on than when you're kind of isolated.

Spencer: 00:01:54

Yeah.

Spencer: 00:01:55

You know, sometimes I feel like I'm in a silo making these kind of edgier, hard faith films, but I realize that there's so many other filmmakers that desire to make these kind of edgier real life stories of redemption, um, and integrate their faith and apply it to all the different scenarios that we, you know, might perceive and overcome in life.

Geoff: 00:02:15

Yeah, it sounds like a good time to mention those other episodes right now, actually, if you wanna listen to Spencer's u backstory, about his life and what he's doing episode 1 33.

Geoff: 00:02:25

It's called "Hard Faith, Embracing Real Life in Storytelling", and Episode 1 34 "Tackling R Rated Subject matter".

Geoff: 00:02:33

So I encourage you to go back and listen to those two episodes right away.

Geoff: 00:02:37

But today we are here to talk about the upcoming, one day festival in New York City, uh, December 6th.

Geoff: 00:02:45

Tell us all about it.

Spencer: 00:02:47

Yes, it's our first regional event outside of Hollywood.

Spencer: 00:02:51

The festival keeps growing.

Spencer: 00:02:52

I realized that not everyone can make the trip to Los Angeles.

Spencer: 00:02:55

Not everyone can make it over to the West Coast.

Spencer: 00:02:57

and so we've started exploring other areas around the country and even around the world to have additional hard faith film festivals and the first location, which really made sense to me, me growing up in Pennsylvania.

Spencer: 00:03:09

Grew up going to New York City, is New York City.

Spencer: 00:03:12

You know it, it is one of the cities of the world.

Spencer: 00:03:15

It's an amazing city and it's especially amazing at Christmas.

Spencer: 00:03:19

And so.

Spencer: 00:03:20

On December 6th, which is a Saturday from 10:00 AM until 7:00 PM with an award show at the end of the one day festival event, we're holding a regional hard faith film festival.

Spencer: 00:03:31

It's an entire film festival in one day.

Spencer: 00:03:34

There's a pitch fest.

Spencer: 00:03:35

We have workshops, um, and it is, it is full tilt.

Spencer: 00:03:39

We have 30 official selections.

Spencer: 00:03:41

We just announced them and we have some really great films, screenplays, documentaries.

Spencer: 00:03:47

Television episodes, some things that have never been released before are premiering here.

Geoff: 00:03:51

So tell me, um, I'm assuming then you opened this up for submission separately from your, uh, your annual event in Hollywood?

Spencer: 00:03:59

That's correct.

Spencer: 00:04:00

Yes, it was a separate film festival from Hard Faith in Hollywood, and we opened submissions just after the Hollywood event ended in July this past year.

Spencer: 00:04:10

And so it's just been

Spencer: 00:04:11

the last

Spencer: 00:04:11

four

Spencer: 00:04:11

or five months, but we've gotten a few hundred submissions, so we're really.

Spencer: 00:04:16

Pleased that we had such a great reception.

Spencer: 00:04:18

Really strong reception and really amazing work, um, that we're excited to showcase with our

Geoff: 00:04:23

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:04:24

So it's all packed into one day, but of course you can, you can fit a lot in one day.

Geoff: 00:04:27

You've got more than one, theater or, or venue.

Geoff: 00:04:30

Is that correct?

Spencer: 00:04:31

That's right, Geoff.

Spencer: 00:04:31

Yes.

Spencer: 00:04:32

I have two theaters.

Spencer: 00:04:33

You know, something I really love to do as a filmmaker myself, um, is I love to see my film play all the way through, you know, not just a trailer, not just a scene, but if possible, and it's not always possible, but, you know, we do accept feature films and documentaries of

Spencer: 00:04:48

feature length, runtimes.

Spencer: 00:04:49

And so we have booked an additional theater to screen these films in their entirety and

Spencer: 00:04:55

all the official selections.

Geoff: 00:04:57

And along with all of the screenings, of course, you've got a list of guests and speakers Tell us about those.

Spencer: 00:05:02

Yes.

Spencer: 00:05:03

Well, we have the amazing Jaclyn Whitt who's going to be giving a workshop on podcast guesting.

Spencer: 00:05:10

We have Joseph Holmes, who just recently completed his first feature film called Jim Versus the

Spencer: 00:05:15

Future.

Spencer: 00:05:15

He's also a

Spencer: 00:05:17

well-known and established film critic, and so he is gonna talk about how.

Spencer: 00:05:21

To make a feature film with keeping the film critic in mind.

Spencer: 00:05:25

Um, Nathan Clarkson, who I've collaborated with some projects and is a author and filmmaker, is gonna be talking about how to be true in your art.

Spencer: 00:05:34

Jennifer Perada, who's an actress that was in my Christmas moody, coming out this Christmas called Saint Nick at Bethlehem, she's giving

Spencer: 00:05:41

a

Spencer: 00:05:41

workshop on

Spencer: 00:05:42

how

Spencer: 00:05:42

to get into a career of acting and modeling,

Spencer: 00:05:45

and

Spencer: 00:05:46

then

Spencer: 00:05:46

we have.

Spencer: 00:05:48

Another workshop

Spencer: 00:05:48

by Chris Coval, who is a development executive at Pinnacle Peak, distribution.

Spencer: 00:05:53

And Chris just, uh, he, he gave a wonderful workshop in Hollywood.

Spencer: 00:05:58

He's giving a

Spencer: 00:05:58

new workshop

Spencer: 00:05:59

And then I'm gonna be giving a workshop,

Spencer: 00:06:01

um, called, telling Stories that liberate.

Spencer: 00:06:04

So it's, it's a very, very full one day

Geoff: 00:06:06

Yeah, before we go on, go ahead and tell us the, uh, date time, and how people can go about, getting their tickets.

Geoff: 00:06:14

And then we'll come back and ask some more questions.

Spencer: 00:06:16

Absolutely.

Spencer: 00:06:17

So the date is December 6th.

Spencer: 00:06:19

it's from 10:00 AM until 7:00 PM.

Spencer: 00:06:21

Doors open at 9:30 AM Get there early.

Spencer: 00:06:25

Get there in advance.

Spencer: 00:06:26

Reserve your seat.

Spencer: 00:06:27

Tuck in.

Spencer: 00:06:28

Um.

Spencer: 00:06:29

The tickets are only available online@hardfaithfest.com or hard faith.org.

Spencer: 00:06:36

It's all in the same place.

Spencer: 00:06:38

there's an additional ticket add-on, which is called a pitch fest.

Spencer: 00:06:41

If you wanna pitch in front of all of our workshop presenters, who are going to be judges.

Spencer: 00:06:46

Um, you can pitch your new story idea in front of a live audience and in front of our judges.

Spencer: 00:06:51

and it's gonna be really great.

: 00:06:52

00 AM to 7:00 PM with an after party sponsored by Hollywood Prayer Network to be announced.

Geoff: 00:06:56

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:06:57

Sounds great.

Geoff: 00:06:58

So you've stated the theme for this event is in the bleak mid-winter.

Geoff: 00:07:03

That's very interesting.

Geoff: 00:07:04

Uh, tell us where that came from.

Spencer: 00:07:07

We've done three years of hard faith film festival in Los Angeles, and instead of just calling it like year three, year 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Lord willing, um, I theamed next year's hard faith fest in Hollywood, do not fear.

Spencer: 00:07:21

Um, because I think especially for hard faith and our mission, which is telling stories that liberate, something that I think gets in the way of a lot of great Christian art is fear and anxiety.

Spencer: 00:07:32

Fear of man, fear of.

Spencer: 00:07:34

A lot of things.

Spencer: 00:07:35

And so the theme for next year for hard faith in Los Angeles is do not fear.

Spencer: 00:07:39

But for the theme for, New York City is in the bleak midwinter.

Spencer: 00:07:43

It's one of my favorite Christmas hymns.

Spencer: 00:07:46

You know, it has a lot of theological meaning behind it.

Spencer: 00:07:49

You know, there's been some clarification and confusion with theming, the festivals.

Spencer: 00:07:54

You know, some of our submitters were asking whenever we still had our submission period open.

Spencer: 00:07:58

Does it have to be Christmas or winter themed?

Spencer: 00:08:00

It did not, but we just like to theme the festivals going forward so that there's a sense of the time period of when in the year that they're taking place and what we're trying to focus on and what topics we're trying to tackle each year.

Geoff: 00:08:13

Yeah, I get the question.

Geoff: 00:08:14

there are some festivals perhaps, that have like, uh, you know, 48 hour challenges and there's a theme that people have to make their films, uh, connected to.

Geoff: 00:08:22

So that's where that question came from.

Geoff: 00:08:23

I guess

Spencer: 00:08:24

Yes, that's right.

Spencer: 00:08:25

Yeah.

Spencer: 00:08:25

There, there's no challenge to connect your

Spencer: 00:08:29

work to the theme,

Spencer: 00:08:30

but you will see that

Spencer: 00:08:31

theme throughout,

Spencer: 00:08:32

all

Spencer: 00:08:32

the, you know, the video and the countdown clocks and everything else.

Spencer: 00:08:36

It's gonna be a lot of Christmas themes at this December 6th event.

Geoff: 00:08:39

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:08:40

so let's just do a breakdown on the schedule for the day.

Geoff: 00:08:43

what's it gonna look like?

Spencer: 00:08:45

Yes.

Spencer: 00:08:46

Uh, the schedule for the day it's packed full.

Spencer: 00:08:49

Like you do not wanna show up late, and ideally you wanna show up early.

Spencer: 00:08:54

Um, it's kicking off right, a at the very beginning.

Spencer: 00:08:57

In Theater one is

Spencer: 00:08:58

where All the workshops are taking place.

Spencer: 00:09:00

Theater two is some where the more long form screenings as well as some of the short films.

Spencer: 00:09:05

Documentaries, experimental films are going to be screening, um, theater one kicking off.

Spencer: 00:09:11

I'm gonna be doing a workshop on the telling stories that liberate Then we do a screenplay.

Spencer: 00:09:16

The screenplay presentations are also going to be taking place in Theater One.

Spencer: 00:09:21

And something that I love about

Spencer: 00:09:22

What

Spencer: 00:09:23

we

Spencer: 00:09:23

try to do with Hard Faith Film Festival is, you know, whenever you submit a screenplay and, and we do try and strive to be a screenplay film festival, when you submit a screenplay to a festival.... um, we like it to be somewhat of an audience interaction because.

Spencer: 00:09:39

You might hear your screenplay announced, you know, if you win an award,

Spencer: 00:09:44

but

Spencer: 00:09:44

what we do is that we work with the screenwriters, our official selection screenwriters, and we create a visual presentation.

Spencer: 00:09:51

So there's a sampling.

Spencer: 00:09:53

Maybe it's just like a slideshow of something like that with some narration, maybe a key scene from the screenplay.

Spencer: 00:09:59

And

Spencer: 00:09:59

that way the audiences.

Spencer: 00:10:01

Don't just hear the name of the screenplay, but they get a flavor or sense of what the screenplay could be.

Spencer: 00:10:05

And so we, spend an hour in theater one on this day and at Hard Faith in Hollywood doing a screenplay presentation.

Spencer: 00:10:13

And then the screenwriters get to come up if they're present, um, and attend the festival.

Spencer: 00:10:18

They get to.

Spencer: 00:10:19

Share some more

Spencer: 00:10:20

about the screenplay, the intention behind it,

Spencer: 00:10:22

and do a little

Spencer: 00:10:22

q and a

Spencer: 00:10:23

with the

Spencer: 00:10:23

audience.

Spencer: 00:10:24

And so the screen, yeah, the screenplay presentation is really special.

Spencer: 00:10:28

And I love, I love screenplays as a screenwriter myself, and I think it's really nice for the audiences to hear about a screenplay and then years later see that a

Geoff: 00:10:36

Sure.

Geoff: 00:10:37

Cool and great for the writers because, I hadn't thought of this before, but as you were saying, films of course, that are chosen get to be screened.

Geoff: 00:10:44

they're featured, whereas screenplays, it's only an announcement of the winners.

Geoff: 00:10:48

Um, so it's really cool that you're doing that.

Spencer: 00:10:51

Yeah.

Spencer: 00:10:51

And we get so many screenplay submissions and there's so many great gifted screenwriters.

Spencer: 00:10:56

So whenever we get to make them official selection, we think too, it's like, you know, there might be a producer in the audience, there might be a filmmaker or director in the audience looking for the next screenplay.

Spencer: 00:11:05

If they can have five minutes hearing about this new story, there might be a screenplay that they might want to adapt or option or work with that screenwriter.

Spencer: 00:11:14

We've had that happen,

Geoff: 00:11:15

Cool.

Geoff: 00:11:16

Cool.

Geoff: 00:11:16

Okay.

Geoff: 00:11:16

Carry on With the schedule.

Spencer: 00:11:18

Uh,

Spencer: 00:11:18

schedule.

Spencer: 00:11:19

So

Spencer: 00:11:20

after the

Spencer: 00:11:21

screenplay presentation in the morning, we do

Spencer: 00:11:23

another workshop, uh,

Spencer: 00:11:24

with Chris Coval, which is the

Spencer: 00:11:26

rewriting and development workshop.

Spencer: 00:11:28

Then

Spencer: 00:11:28

we do a

Spencer: 00:11:28

short film block.

Spencer: 00:11:30

Um, and then Jaclyn is going to be giving the podcast guesting workshop just before our lunch break.

Spencer: 00:11:37

The lunch break is 45 minutes is what we say, because we want really people to.

Spencer: 00:11:41

Leave the theater, go grab a, a slice of New York, famous Pizza and come back.

Spencer: 00:11:47

You can't eat in the theater.

Spencer: 00:11:48

So chow down.

Spencer: 00:11:50

Come back because then at 2:00 PM we're back with our next screenplay block for the other half of the screenplays.

Spencer: 00:11:56

Joseph Holmes then does a making your first feature film or film critic workshop, short film block.

Spencer: 00:12:04

Jennifer Parados casting.

Spencer: 00:12:06

Bible college television episode, premier and in competition as an official selection.

Spencer: 00:12:12

Nathan Clarkson's workshop On

Spencer: 00:12:14

being honest in your art.

Spencer: 00:12:15

And then for the last hour of the presentations and the screenings is the pitch fest before our award show, um, for official selections, which we just announced.

Spencer: 00:12:27

This week for official selections, you know, short films and screenplays is what are most submitted to any film festival, just by statistics.

Spencer: 00:12:37

And we are in that same group.

Spencer: 00:12:40

And so because we get so many submissions for short films and screenplays, we did this last year at Hard Faith Fest In Hollywood, we accept and nominate more for official selection because

Spencer: 00:12:51

it's such a competitive category.

Spencer: 00:12:53

So in most of the categories, there's only one top winner, but in these most competitive categories.

Spencer: 00:13:01

We do a top three winners for just short film and screenplays.

Spencer: 00:13:06

So we're gonna have a award show, we'll pass out awards, and then afterwards we're gonna go to a local restaurant and, uh, have a little awards after party, just to get to know everyone and see everyone before we part our

Geoff: 00:13:19

It sounds like fun.

Geoff: 00:13:20

those after parties are a great opportunity to, meet new people.

Geoff: 00:13:23

'cause there's usually time that you, uh, you haven't had all day, of course, to meet everybody and make some connections and, make, uh, backroom deals or whatever the case may

Geoff: 00:13:32

be.

Geoff: 00:13:32

It's,

Spencer: 00:13:32

that's right.

Spencer: 00:13:33

And for those who are coming in, you know, into New York City, you know, we have some new church partnerships that we're developing and so we're going to, uh, also suggest where people, if they are staying in the city, where they can go to worship Sunday morning.

Spencer: 00:13:47

Um, and, and you know, where we're gonna be headed.

Spencer: 00:13:50

You know, different groups can go to

Geoff: 00:13:51

Yeah.

Geoff: 00:13:52

And as you said earlier, you know, in the heart of New York City in December,

Geoff: 00:13:55

a block from Times Square, right?

Spencer: 00:13:58

A block from Times Square.

Spencer: 00:13:59

You can literally see where the ball dropped from a like a five to three minute

Geoff: 00:14:04

Okay.

Geoff: 00:14:04

you know, if you want an excuse to spend a day or a weekend in New York City.

Geoff: 00:14:07

It's great timing, you plan for an extra day or a couple of days or, whatnot.

Geoff: 00:14:12

And, for me, um, the only time I've been in New York City has been at the airport, you know, uh, changing flights.

Geoff: 00:14:19

and the same for Jaclyn.

Geoff: 00:14:20

So we're looking forward to it ourselves, very much.

Geoff: 00:14:23

Tell Tell us again how to get the tickets and, leave us, with some parting words.

Spencer: 00:14:29

Yeah.

Spencer: 00:14:30

Um, if you haven't been to New York City during Christmas, I don't think there's a more magical place in the world to be at Christmas time.

Spencer: 00:14:36

It's home alone.

Spencer: 00:14:37

Two lost in New York.

Spencer: 00:14:38

It's just, it's fantastic.

Spencer: 00:14:40

Rockefeller Center, um, the tree.

Spencer: 00:14:43

See a Broadway show, matinee special Sunday afternoon.

Spencer: 00:14:46

I mean, it's just, it's really, really magical.

Spencer: 00:14:49

Skate at the ice, rink at Rockefeller Center.

Spencer: 00:14:52

I

Spencer: 00:14:52

love

Spencer: 00:14:52

it.

Spencer: 00:14:52

It's one of my favorite places, and I haven't been there in probably a decade for Christmas, so I'm really looking forward to it

Spencer: 00:14:56

personally.

Spencer: 00:14:57

Um, the date is December 6th

Spencer: 00:15:01

on a Saturday.

Spencer: 00:15:02

The doors open at 9:30 AM The show starts at 10:00 AM It runs

Spencer: 00:15:07

all day

Spencer: 00:15:07

until

Spencer: 00:15:08

seven, 7:30 PM.

Spencer: 00:15:10

The

Spencer: 00:15:11

after party

Spencer: 00:15:11

is

Spencer: 00:15:11

at

Spencer: 00:15:12

8:00

Spencer: 00:15:12

PM

Spencer: 00:15:12

You can

Spencer: 00:15:13

only buy your tickets@hardfaithfest.com or hardfaith.org.

Spencer: 00:15:19

Buy tickets while supplies last.

Spencer: 00:15:20

We've actually been very pleased with the overwhelming response.

Spencer: 00:15:24

It's another reason why we had to buy another theater at

Spencer: 00:15:27

this venue.

Spencer: 00:15:28

We have had a

Spencer: 00:15:29

lot of

Spencer: 00:15:29

pre-sales, a lot of tickets, and now we have just accepted 30 official selections.

Spencer: 00:15:34

So a lot more filmmakers are coming in and their families and friends.

Spencer: 00:15:37

So if you're listening to this, please don't wait.

Spencer: 00:15:40

Don't delay.

Spencer: 00:15:41

Buy your tickets today.

Geoff: 00:15:42

Exciting.

Geoff: 00:15:43

we're excited about it.

Geoff: 00:15:44

We're really looking forward to it.

Geoff: 00:15:45

Um, I think those instructions were very clear about the tickets.

Geoff: 00:15:48

We'll also put those links in the show notes, so if you've already forgotten it, uh, you can go there and find it.

Geoff: 00:15:54

Thank you so much for sharing with us, Spencer, and thanks for doing what you do.

Geoff: 00:15:58

Uh, it's important and, we'll look forward to seeing you again on December 6th.

Spencer: 00:16:03

Thank you, Geoff.

Spencer: 00:16:03

Thank you for sponsoring Hard Faith Fest inaugural regional event.

Spencer: 00:16:07

We couldn't do it without you guys.

Spencer: 00:16:08

Thank you so much for your support.

Geoff: 00:16:09

You're very welcome.