Announcing the 2010 Micah Film Festival

Some of you know that last year folks from Ikon put together a weekend film festival of documentaries here in Oceanside, CA. Well, It was so much fun, we decided to do it again.

For the 2010 Micah Film Festival we’ve found three incredible documentary films to screen this year – one about Christian and Muslim fundamentalism, one about emergency medical work in conflict areas of the world, and one about autism -  along with some amazing non-profit organizations to spotlight.

Check it out:

The Micah Film Festival spotlights excellent documentary films that celebrate justice, mercy, and humility and also serves as a forum for connecting people with non-profit organizations who are making a difference locally and globally.

Our mission is to help restore the human spirit through art and advocacy.

Over the course of one weekend we will screen three award-winning documentaries that compellingly represent the spirit of Justice, Mercy, and Humility. After each screening we’ll have post-screening Q&A sessions and panel discussions about the important topics addressed by the films. Click here to learn more about the 2010 film selections.

We’ll also use the weekend to spotlight several local non-profits that are working working toward these values around the world, and we’ll use proceeds from your ticket purchase to raise money for these amazing organizations. Click here to learn more about our featured non-profits this year!

If you are going to be in SoCal the weekend of Nov 19-21, please consider coming. Your ticket purchase goes toward some great causes, and I promise you’ll be inspired by the films and the post-screening discussions we host.

I’d also like to ask you to help us spread the word. If you’re on facebook or Twitter, please help spread the word.  If you have a blog, please post about it or link to us. We have lots of tickets to sell and every little bit helps!

Thank everyone – hope to see you there!

Technorati Tags: Autism The Musical, CA, Holy Wars, Ikon Community, Living In Emergency, Micah Film Festival, Oceanside

Facebook Giveaway: Award-Winning Documentary, As We Forgive

Earlier this week I gave away a couple of fantastic books in my first ever Twitter giveaway here on Pastoralia. I enjoyed it so much, I’ve decided to do it again this week, only this time on Facebook.

This week I’m going to give away the amazing and award-winning documentary, As We Forgive by Laura Waters Hinson. Here’s the synopsis:

Could you forgive a person who murdered your family? This is the question faced by the subjects of As We Forgive, a documentary about Rosaria and Chantal—two Rwandan women coming face-to-face with the men who slaughtered their families during the 1994 genocide. The subjects of As We Forgive speak for a nation still wracked by the grief of a genocide that killed one in eight Rwandans in 1994. Overwhelmed by an enormous backlog of court cases, the government has returned over 50,000 genocide perpetrators back to the very communities they helped to destroy. Without the hope of full justice, Rwanda has turned to a new solution: Reconciliation.

But can it be done? Can survivors truly forgive the killers who destroyed their families? Can the government expect this from its people? And can the church, which failed at moral leadership during the genocide, fit into the process of reconciliation today? In As We Forgive, director Laura Waters Hinson and narrator Mia Farrow explore these topics through the lives of four neighbors once caught in opposite tides of a genocidal bloodbath, and their extraordinary journey from death to life through forgiveness.

I first saw this film wonderful and thought-provoking film at the 2009 Windrider Forum at Sundance, and later screened it for the Oceanside community at our first ever Micah Film Festival last summer. It is an amazing testament to the power of mercy among broken and victimized people.

Here’s how the giveaway works:

1. Visit the Pastoralia.org page on Facebook by clicking here.
2. Become a fan by clicking the “become a fan” button at the top.
3. Suggest your friends become fans too by clicking the “suggest to friends” link under the image in the left-hand column and following the instructions. That’s it!

Bonus giveaways:

If our Pastoralia.org facebook fans reach 1000, we will draw two additional winners to receive copies of the other films we screened at The Micah Film Festival. One will receive The Least of These and the other will receive Shooting Beauty. These amazing and important films represent the best in conscientious documentary film-making today.

Giveaway ends at midnight on Monday morning Feb 22. The winner(s) will be chosen at random from among the Pastoralia.org facebook fans only and announced Monday afternoon.

Technorati Tags: As We Forgive, Christianity, facebook giveaway, Micah Film Festival, Shooting Beauty, The Least of These