Chronicling the Works of God: An interview with Christian filmmaker Darren Wilson
The Pneuma Review: For any of our readers who may not be familiar with your films Finger of God, Furious Love, and Father of Lights please give a brief description of each.
Darren Wilson: Well, put quite simply, they are documentaries that detail my six year search for the more of Christianity. I grew up in the church, but by my late twenties had grown pretty distant from God and was fairly fed up with the church as a whole. It seemed like it had become some sort of feel-good club, designed to perpetuate its own existence. I was surrounded by hypocrisy, with my own life being the chief example. Finger of God, then, became my first foray into searching for the answer to the question, “Is there more to Christianity than what I’ve always been told?” If I had to digest the three films into one sentence, it would probably be this: Finger of God is about God’s power; Furious Love is about God’s love; and Father of Lights is about God’s heart. Throw in a bunch of wild adventures with God around the world and you get a fairly decent idea of what you’re getting yourself into when you sit down with these films.
PR: Where did you get your training as a filmmaker?
Darren: My training was literally on the job. I was trained as a screenwriter (writing films) but I never, ever wanted to actually make them. When I started Finger of God, I had no idea what I was doing. For my first interview, it took me nearly five minutes to figure out how to turn on the camera. I had a sense of story, but that’s about it. The rest I learned by doing and making a lot of mistakes.
PR: How do you select ministries that you want to make films about?
Darren: At first, it was simply anyone who would say, “Yes.” But now that we’ve seen some success, I’ve had to become careful about what I do and who I go film. For the most part I work off of referral from a select group of people I trust around the world who keep me informed of hidden gems they discover along their travels. But recently, the Holy Spirit has been showing me more and more where He wants me to go.
PR: How have audiences responded to your films?
Category: Church History, Pneuma Review, Winter 2013
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