From Film Neophyte to Movie MogulBefore recently, Mart Green had never been in a movie theater, but he's the driving force behind two new films about the 1956 missionary martyrs in Ecuador—and the tribe that killed them.by Mark Moring |
posted 4/26/2005
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The original plan for Beyond the Gates was to roll it out to limited theaters, but you've scrapped that plan and are releasing it to churches instead. Why?
Green: We were already doing the church plan. Then we said let's do some theatrical release too. But with the 50th anniversary coming so soon, we felt like we didn't have enough time to roll out the theatrical. So we're focused on churches now for Beyond the Gates, and we've got to start focusing on marketing and distributing End of the Spear.
And the church will play a role in that?
Green: Yep. We're hoping churches will play Beyond the Gates, which will include a trailer for End of the Spear. We'll say, "Hey, now that you've experienced this at your church, why don't you make this an outreach event and go to the theater?"
Beyond the Gates isn't real in your face with Jesus and the gospel. Was that intentional?
Green: Very intentional. The world doesn't want to hear that kind of stuff, but I think when you tell the story just as it happened, it works. We didn't tell the Waodoni not to say things. We didn't tell them what to say. We just said, "Tell the story."
Do you have a distributor yet?
Green: We're still working on that. We'll probably not go through a studio model. We'll do an independent release. That means the burden of marketing falls upon us, but we feel like we would know how to market this film better than Hollywood does. They're used to marketing stars, directors, all that stuff. But with us, again, the story is the star.
Speaking of stories, you must have some good ones as a result of being a part of this project.
Green: Yes. When we finished the documentary, we wanted its first audience to be the Waodanis. So I took it down to Ecuador. I took generators and a bed sheet for a screen, and we showed it to the Waodanis.
We also had a reunion of the martyrs' wives. We got all five women and their nine kids back together for the first time since 1958. The five widows had only been back together one time for a 40th anniversary taping for Pat Robertson and The 700 Club. It was a miracle that we were able to get them all together, and since then, two of the widows have passed away—Marge Saint and Marilou McCully.
But you were able to get them on tape before they died.
Green: Yep, all five interviews. And they all got a chance to see the film together.
Steve Saint and Mincaye on the set
Since the story is from the Waodani perspective, what's in it for them?
Green: Half of the proceeds go to a ministry Steve Saint started called Indigenous People's Technology and Education Center, which helps not just the Waodani, but other indigenous people. For the Waodani, their main health issue was their teeth, and this ministry includes a "portable dental system" to help with that. Steve has empowered the Waodani church to go out and fix teeth and then be able to share the gospel—because you need to do something for people for them to hear you.
Churches interested in obtaining a copy of Beyond the Gates can go to the website or call 1-800-695-9847. It's available to churches now, and will be available to consumers in October. For more on Mart Green, click here.
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