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Not all the films at Sundance are as gut-wrenching as War/Dance, Save Me, and Trade.  King of California, starring Michael Douglas, is a quirky story about a possibly crazy but always believing dad and his ultra-responsible and skeptical daughter. More enjoyable and interesting is the directorial debut by novelist JJ Lask, On the Road with Judas, which was introduced to us at the theatre as a "quintessential postmodern story." According to the Sundance website, "On the Road with Judas is a film based on a real novel, written by a writer, played by an actor, about the real characters and the actors playing those characters in this story." Got it?

About three days into the festival I realized that Sundance was messing with my head … in a good way. I've generally viewed films as a form of entertainment, right up there with bowling or dining out. However, the Windrider Film Forum helped me to see that there was much more to these films than entertainment value.

The filmmakers we interacted with each had a story to tell. For some, it is a story of the devastation and injustice prevalent in our world. For others, the story involves the human longing for love and significance. At Windrider we were challenged to ask of the films we watched, "What is the story being told?" And, "What can we say of God's presence in the work of these filmmakers?"

As Craig Detweiler put it, "Hollywood films are meant to comfort the afflicted.  Sundance films are meant to afflict the comfortable." Certainly both comfort and affliction are needed in our world today.

As a pastor I know my tendency is often toward the Hollywood way of things. Perhaps Sundance can teach us the value of being afflicted, of having our eyes opened more widely to the God of afflicted. Not just in films of course, but to the whole of life in God's world. And for that reminder I'm thankful to the Sundance Film Festival.

David Swanson is associate pastor of Parkview Community Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He also filed a couple Sundance reports for the Out of Ur blog.

© David Swanson 2006, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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