Jesus Camp (2006)

Directors:

Heidi Ewing
Rachel Grady

Release Date:

18 April 2007 (France)

Genre:

Documentary | Drama

Tagline:

America is being born again

Plot:

A documentary on kids who attend a summer camp hoping to become the next Billy Graham.

Plot Keywords:

Children | Christian | Evangelical | Radio | Summer Camp

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Lou Engle	...	Himself
Becky Fischer	...	Herself
Ted Haggard	...	Himself
Mike Papantonio	...	Himself - Commentator

Directed by
Heidi Ewing
Rachel Grady

Produced by
Laura Bell	....	imaging producer
Nancy Dubuc	....	executive producer
Heidi Ewing	....	producer
Jannat Gargi	....	producer: imaging
Rachel Grady	....	producer
Ryan Harrington	....	managing producer: A&E IndieFilms
Jacquelyn Shulman	....	associate producer
Molly Thompson	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Force Theory
Neill Sanford Livingston		(as Sanford Livingston)
Michael Furjanic		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Mira Chang
Jenna Rosher

Film Editing by
Enat Sidi

Art Department
Marc Corsiglia	....	graphics designer

Sound Department
Margaret Crimmins	....	additional sound designer
Michael Furjanic	....	sound designer
David Glaser	....	sound mixer: Gizmo Enterprises Inc.
Greg Smith	....	additional sound designer

Visual Effects by
Mark A. Brown	....	digital film services (as Marc Brown)

Camera and Electrical Department
Nina Davenport	....	additional camera operator
Alan Deutsch	....	additional camera operator
Tony Hardmon	....	additional camera operator
Andrew Jansen	....	Steadicam operator
Corey Kohn	....	still photographer
Jacquelyn Shulman	....	additional camera operator

Editorial Department
Marc Brown	....	film output: digital intermediate
Scott P. Doniger	....	on-line editor: Full Circle Post (as Scott Doniger)
Dara Kell	....	additional editor
Jonathan Liebert	....	digital cinema mastering
Minnea Lin	....	additional editor
Bill Scott	....	senior color timer

Music Department
Neill Sanford Livingston	....	musician (as Sanford Livingston)
J.J. McGeehan	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Rose Agger	....	production intern
Kathy Avril	....	production intern
Maria Cataldo	....	production intern
Victoria S. Cook	....	legal counsel: Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
Marc Corsiglia	....	title designer
Sam Cotler	....	production intern
Anna Liese Gaeta	....	production intern
Salil Gandhi	....	legal counsel: Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
Christina Gonzalez	....	production assistant
Naomi Goodman	....	production intern
Brent Hansford	....	production intern
Erin Heidenreich	....	sales agent
Kris Kaczor	....	production intern
Arlin Kelly	....	production intern
Darlene Lin	....	production intern
Alex Linsker	....	production intern
Maya Mumma	....	production intern
Katie Paddock	....	production intern
Joanna Parson	....	production intern
Timiza Sanyika	....	production intern
Tony Shaff	....	production intern
Josiah Signor	....	production intern
Thom Woodley	....	production intern

Production Companies

• A&E IndieFilms
• Loki Films

Distributors

• Magnolia Pictures (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• Haut et Court (2007) (France) (theatrical)
• A-Film Distribution (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• ICA Films (2007) (UK) (theatrical)
• Archer Entertainment Asia Pacific (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Golden Village Entertainment (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Against Gravity (2007) (Poland) (all media)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (all media)
• Roco Films (2006) (Non-USA) (all media)
• Sony Music Entertainment (2009) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• Alpha Cine Laboratory  tape to film transfer (as Alpha Cine Labs)
• Cinetic Media  distribution advisory services
• D.R. Reiff & Associates  production insurance (as D. Reiff & Associates)
• Dog Bark Sound  additional sound design
• Donna Daniels Public Relations  publicity
• Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz  legal counsel
• Full Circle Post  online
• IONIC  musicians
• Postworks New York  offline services

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some discussions of mature subject matter

Runtime:

84 min | USA:87 min | Austria:58 min (TV version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:M18 | UK:PG | South Africa:13L | Australia:M | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

Company:

A&E IndieFilms

Trivia:

Since the making of the film, Becky Fischer, children's pastor for Kids on Fire, announced that due to negative reactions to the camp after the film, including telephone calls and vandalism, the camp, which was held once a year for three weeks, has been discontinued indefinitely and will be replaced by other events.

Quotes:

Becky Fischer:It's almost like being on the cover of "Rolling Stones"!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "50 Documentaries to See Before You Die: The Boy Who Loves Jesus Grows Up (#1.2)" (2011)

Soundtrack:

Spirit In the Sky

innocence forgotten

Enter the world of Jesus Camp, a brilliant documentary that chronicles the life of several people who attend or set up a "Jesus Camp" in (ironicaly) Devils Lake North Dakota.

Filmmakers Heidi Ewing, and Rachel Grady decide to focus mostly on the children that attend, with some focus on minister Becky Fisher who is one of the main architects of the camp.

Right away the filmmakers show a growing underlying change in the evangelical movement, to politicize their beliefs. Voice overs start talking about the newest supreme court nomination of Alito. However, once the focus starts on the kids who attend the camp the film gets its bearing.

What becomes obvious is that paranoia and fear is driven into the kids. There is Ashley a young girl, and Levi an older boy who seems to be on the quest to become a minister and preacher himself. It's obvious he likes the attention that is given him. But the kids are still kids, Levi and his friend go out into the woods and do what all kids do, explore find a scary spider, Levi even mentions, I like to throw rocks.

But then they are back in lessons again, scarred out of their boots in a sermon as they are being told to stay away from Harry Potter, abortion, and that they are essentially dirty from all the sins they carry. Most of them can't hold back the tears. Levi mentions he said he was saved when he was 5 years old (I can only think of the horrible things that he must have been guilty of to be converted (too much sugar cereal maybe?) ) The filmmakers do the smart thing and let the pictures and words speak for themselves. There is no voice over narration, no probing questions from the film-makers to the subjects themselves. There is no debate. The words from the kids just come out, and they are frightening. A sense of brainwashing can only be observed as the kids talk about how they have to fight in gods army, and that everyone else has to be 'purged'. Never mind that at one point kids are worshiping at a card board cut out of George Bush.

Some scenes literally look like they could have came from the movie "Triumph of the Will".

But the brilliance is shown in the innocence that these children loose and don't seem to enjoy in. What young kid needs to know about abortion? or be cleansed of all the horrors of the world? Why can't the kids just make up their own minds with everything but in front of them? When do kids ever get to just.... play? They are hints in the film at that, kids will be kids, little late night camp ghost stories, some break dancing.. it's all in good fun, and perfectly fine.

But it seems like Jesus camp just wants to crush their spirits.

Kudos to the film-makers for showing it real.