A Unique Movie Presentation And An Unlikely Partnership

Nov. 15, 2010 - PRLog -- September 13, 2010: What do a former pro baseball player, a former child actor and the head of a nonprofit agency with offices in the heart of South Los Angeles have in common?  The three of them have collaborated to present a Christian based film in a most unusual way.  

Former child actor turned filmmaker John Ward had a dream to take his passion for film and his passion for the bible and merge them to create a feature length film.  His dream was realized when he teamed up with former New York Mets baseball player turned actor Todd Zeile. Together Ward and Zeile set about filming a high quality feature length film based on the Ten Commandments entitled ‘I AM’ http://iamthemovie.com/.  “I AM” is prefaced by Atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel, the former award winning legal editor and best-selling author and closed by the renowned Cecil ‘Chip’ Murray 27 year leader of one of Los Angeles most visible churches, the First African Methodist Episcopal church (FAME).

After the film was made, Zeile and Ward set about the task of marketing the film.  They started working on a plan to get the film shown in 1,000 theaters on Sunday 10.10.10 and were given positive responses.  Then fate intervened.  When the releasing company (CCN : Church Communication Network) filed for bankruptcy, thus jeapordizing the release and Fox agreement, Todd Zeile decided to show the finished product to Delores Brown who is the principal of the Los Angeles Institute of Film Education (LIFE), a subsidiary of her non-profit agency.  Three years prior, Zeile and Brown had created LIFE to assist youth in South Los Angeles with hands-on training to enter the movie and video production industries.

Brown, a former banker, community development leader and businesswoman, saw a plan.    “We wanted to create economic development opportunities for our students as well as the Church.  I wanted them to learn how to use social media and other grassroots techniques to get the word out about this phenomenal film while earning an equitable wage.”
                  
Together they created CTN (Church Theater Network), a marketing, distribution, and fulfillment house, which took the place of CCN, and will continue to distribute films beyond “I AM”.   Through its unconventional business model, the youth marketed the film not to play in 1,000 theaters, but instead 1,000 churches.  “The film industry has traditionally marketed Christian based films by urging churches to encourage their members to patronize the movie,” said Ward, “We felt like we should be encouraging people to come to the church, instead of the theater, to enable discussion when the film stops.  

“The biggest part of being a team is having a role,” said Zeile, “Ours is to create a movie that stirs emotions and asks questions.”  Ward chimes in “It starts conversations, it doesn’t finish them.  It just opens the door for churches to fill their “empty seat”        http://iamthemovie.com/i_am_footage.html .  Is there a better place to continue that discussion?”  The response to the movie has been overwhelming from over 2,000 churches on six continents becoming hosts.  “We started off with two youth on the project, and then added two more, then two more…” said Brown, “Overnight, we became a full service company with opportunities to market and distribute other films while providing more job creation for our community in the process.”

The Los Angeles Institute of Film Education (LIFE), a subsidiary of the 501 (c) (3) corporation Institute for Maximum Human Potential (IMHP), is focused on redefining community renewal & redevelopment through education, hands-on job training, and long term economic investment by creating an infrastructure and environment that empowers students to change their community and the world through media education and the arts.  

If you would like more information about this movie or to schedule an interview with Todd Zeile, John Ward, and/or Delores A. Brown, please contact Todd Zeile (contact info above), or Amanda Seon-Walker at 323/567-9883 or email awalker.imhpla@gmail.com


Press materials available at www.foxpressroom.com

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Media inquiries:  
•   Fox:  Jennifer Lang, 310.369.3980; jennifer.lang@fox.com  
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I AM
Street Date:         November 2, 2010
Prebook Date:         October 6, 2010
Audio:   English 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles         English/French/Spanish      
U.S. Rating:         PG-13
Total Run Time:      89 Minutes  
Closed Captioned:      Yes

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The Institute for Maximum Human Potential (IMHP), a 501 (c) (3) corporation, is a human service, community, and economic development agency focused on enhancing the well-being of individuals, families, and neighborhoods by addressing human rights issues.