About this project

"...you take a boy and a girl, or two or three small groups, you give them video copies, you drop them out of an airplane by parachute, they have a map of France, they don't know where they're going to land, and you let them sort things out, go into cafés, show it a few hundred times...."
-Jean-Luc Godard on film distribution

"They" wouldn't let Godard do that, but there's no "they" stopping us. In the fall, we will be taking THE EVANGELIST on a national tour with Godard's plan in mind. Our fundraising initiative will go towards making this a successful tour.

Like a punk rock band in a van, we'll start in Cape Cod, MA (where we shot the film), and travel down through Georgia, Texas, the Southwest, up California, through the Midwest, up to Montreal and back to New York. We do have screenings lined up with festivals, universities and churches. But, aside from that, we'll drive into town and show up at the first place that lets us screen the film, all of which will be filmed as a web series. And, of course, if you'd like to see us jump out of a plane, donate a little bit more and we'll do just that.

Funding will also cover the following expenses:
-Design and print posters
-Publicity: alas, publicists and Google ads aren't free, after all
-Maintaining a website
-DVD authoring and replication: we need to make the DVD's before we can sell them, right?
-Fulfillment Costs

THE FILM

In the dreary winter of Provincetown, Cape Cod, 12-year old foster child, Gideon Bellamont, goes on a religious crusade with his adoptive father, Danny Ziegfeld, a gay theater director and prominent figure in the community. The townspeople refuse to listen to Gideon's religious rants and his mounting frustration drives him to use increasingly violent methods in this darkly comical fable about religious extremism.

“Wonderful and exciting stuff!”
-Guy Maddin, director, MY WINNIPEG

“Looks great!”
-Geoffrey Fletcher, screenwriter, PRECIOUS

“Favolosso! Black and white is the new color.”
-Amos Poe, director, BLANK GENERATION

THE EVANGELIST is currently streaming in serial fashion (like a Dickens novel) on www.evangelistmovie.com and www.openfilm.com, as part of a special preview period over the next 10 weeks. Don't miss it!

PRODUCTION STATEMENT

At the heart of The Evangelist is a yearning for more communication between the religious zealots and liberal freethinkers. Neither taking sides nor making value statements, the film pits the two groups together and illustrates the dangers of intolerance, no matter the argument. Danny is a fixture of Provincetown, a very eccentric and countercultural community, while Gideon is a self-serious, fundamentalist. Gideon and Danny are both stubborn and resigned in their respective ways, acting on their own behalf rather than trying to understand each other.

In a town known for its queer and freethinking population, Gideon’s religious beliefs deviate from the norm. Everyone refuses to listen to Gideon’s words, and Gideon grows increasingly more abrasive, antagonizing the entire community. He judges and attacks them rather than sharing good news. Ultimately, his intentions are in the right place: he wants to spread God’s word because he believes they will lead people to salvation. But his methods suggests otherwise. In the same vein, the townspeople’s unwavering refusal to listen to any religious ideas fuels Gideon’s anger, resulting in a standstill of bitter opposition.

More than anything else, our goal is to inspire dialog. We’d like for everyone—religious or not—to reexamine their ideas and just listen to each other. No one is entirely correct; but no one is entirely wrong either. Our mission is to have a conversation with as many people as we can about the film.

CAST OF THE FILM
Theodore Bouloukos

Theodore Bouloukos is a New York-based actor and writer, whose performance work is divided equally between independent narrative cinema and myriad projects in video, painting and photography, live-performance and tableaux vivants, which have been exhibited at festivals, museums and galleries around the world, including recent shows at the Venice Biennale and Art Basel Miami. Theo has appeared in the Sundance hit, Moonshine and five feature films directed by Todd Verow, including Bulldog in the Whitehouse and Vacationland, both Berlinale favorites. He recently completed two additional independent feature films, Public Hearing and The Three Sessions; and he will soon star in Journey, to be directed by Malachi Roth. An alumnus of The Albany Academy and Columbia University, he also wrote Hiding My Candy, published by Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster; and currently writes a column on art, called “Aestheticism” for youritlist.com, administered by Harper Perennial Books. Theo’s credits and additional information can be found on IMDb.com athttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm1678610 and at myspace.com/theonyc.

Lucas Fox Philips

Gideon Bellamont is an adult in a 12-year-old’s body. The role required someone highly articulate and able to exude self-serious determination. After weeks of casting, the producers discovered Lucas Fox Philips at a burger joint in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. With a cherubic appearance and a confident, self-possessed personality, he quickly stood out among the other candidates. Having never acted before, Lucas brings the naturalistic performance that the director finds essential for the role. An astute learner and a mature professional, Lucas quickly adjusted to the long and often difficult days on set. The experience inspired him to continue acting and he is currently signed with Innovative Artists Agency in New York.

Making a film is not very difficult anymore. Releasing it, however, is the hardest it's ever been. We can't do it without your support.

Thank you, friends.

With love,
The Evangelist Team