Erich Von Stroheim and Cecil B. DeMille may not have believed they had a divine right to make movies, but on the set they were assuredly God. Pastor Richard Gazowsky of Voice of Pentecost Church is content to take his cues from a higher authority: One day in 1995, the San Francisco minister announced to his congregation that God had instructed him to set up a television and movie studio to spread the Word. Gazowsky founded Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks and, after completing a handful of marginally competent films, embarked on a 70mm sci-fi feature. Michael Jacobs’ excruciatingly funny Audience of One tracks the train wreck of Gravity: The Shadow of Joseph with a cool eye, compiling a riveting record of a relentlessly driven director who took a leap of faith and got in over his head. Gazowsky’s saving grace, as it were — why he evokes sympathy rather than enmity — is that he didn’t get into filmmaking for the glory, but for His glory.
March 27-April 3, 2009
