Advent Film Group was in the room at the 2008 NRB Convention when Doug Phillips, from Vision Forum, announced the BIGGEST single cash prize in the world offered by a film festival -- Christian or secular. $101,000 will be awarded to the recipient of “Best of Festival” Jubilee Award at the January 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF).

(Read the official SAICFF announcement here.)

This announcement will be remember as a breakthrough moment in the history of cinema. It marks the “inflection point” upon which the independent Christian film movement began to rise significantly.

For Advent Film Group, the announcement was providential. The timing could not have been more perfect for the young film company. AFG officially launched in May 2007, but its roots really began after George Escobar attended the SAICFF in October 2006. “I was blown away by the huge numbers of young Christian filmmakers and their families in attendance” exclaims Escobar. “The convention hall was packed. The atmosphere was charged with enthusiasm, but with a humble conviction that those in the hall had been given a sacred mission... to help shape our culture for the glory of God, not man.”

At that time, in October 2006, no participant from SAICFF had yet made a feature-length film. “To the best of our knowledge, AFG was the first to make a feature film right out the gate,” Escobar explains. “But we didn’t want to simply make a movie. That’s not good enough. That would be just another selfish effort, joining the ranks of the other 3,000 independent feature films made each year.”

Instead, AFG also set out to provide an alternative to film school and Hollywood. Escobar clarifies, “We’re doing this because film schools aren’t working sufficiently for Christian filmmakers.” Escobar claims, “We recognized that the status-quo is clearly broken, otherwise big-budget faith-based or Christian-authored movies like ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘Narnia’ would be directed by Christian directors. The only exception is Mel Gibson. But even he had to self-finance ‘Passion of the Christ” for production and distribution.

Unlike film schools where students pay large tuitions to make short or student films, AFG productions are feature-length from the start, giving the completed film immediate market value. AFG actually pays college students a small stipend even as they are trained, earn professional credits, and receive profit-participation points.

Another thing AFG is doing differently is helping other Christian filmmakers launch their own film production companies. “Currently, we are actively assisting four other filmmaking groups and families from across the country to start their own feature-film company using many of AFG pioneering principles,” Escobar describes. “AFG is interested in growing the community of filmmakers for Christ. We believe that is one of the reasons why the Lord has blessed us with 100% investor funding in just six months. This is not about AFG or our movies. It’s about being a blessing to others, and growing the homeschool-based Christian filmmaking community.”

AFG’s first movie, “Come What May” was filmed in Purcellville, Virginia. The movie has garnered wide attention because it features Patrick Henry College (PHC), a national powerhouse in debate and moot court competition. The movie centers on two PHC students who battle to overturn Roe v. Wade at the National Moot Court Championship. They are coached by Dr. Michael Farris, the real-life founder and Chancellor of PHC and a high-profile homeschooling advocate. This is the first of five movies planned by Advent.

AFG is also building a movie distribution system from within the homeschooling, pro-life/pro-family communities. Rather than sharing film revenues strictly with traditional distributors, AFG seeks to channel movie revenue into Christian and family-based organizations. Escobar points out: “Homeschoolers have already successfully turned the public education monopoly upside down; we will now do the same in cinema production and distribution.”

“I believe our greatest success will be when AFG is consistently competing for the top SAICFF award alongside other productions that AFG helped spawn,” Escobar believes. “Imagine this friendly competition through SAICFF where each of us helps one another make better and better films time after time. In ten years, we can rival the best in Hollywood in quality. Imagine further having dozens, if not hundreds of top-notch films that are told, imbued, and underpinned by a Biblical worldview. If we can deliver high-quality films in large quantities that have a presuppositionally biblical message, then we really can provide an alternative to Hollywood fare. Like SAICFF, Advent Film Group intends to be a leader in that movement.”