Giving the gift of films

Giving the gift of films.

After starring in four Christmas short films, loved around the world – with almost 3.5 million views on YouTube alone – eleven year old Oscar Bowman premiered his first film as a debut director last Sunday night at Christmas event GLOW Carols by Glowstick.

Glow attracted over 9000 people to Vector Arena and is put on by St Paul’s church in Auckland, New Zealand as a gift to the city. In addition to singing carols, GLOW enjoyed two brand new short films: Christmas gifts to the world.

Star News Bethlehem

The Christmas story receives a modern makeover as an international news story. The Star News anchor was played by Petra Bagust and filmed in the TVNZ News studio. Bethlehem was re-created at a private location at Pakiri beach. All the kid’s dialogue was ad-libbed under the direction of Oscar Bowman.

Most of the cast, their creative families and filmmaking friends have been part of all five
St Paul’s Arts ‘n’ Kids (SPANK) Christmas films that are used in church, school and community Christmas events all around the world.

Oscar played the part of God in the last two SPANK films, and gave director Jordan Dodson so much input that Jordan asked him to direct this year.

View “Star News Bethlehem” here:
http://youtu.be/kBaTUwhq0-4

766 Christmases

Do you feel like you’ve lost count of all your Christmases? So do the elderly stars of the film 766 Christmases. The film is named after the number of Christmases the nine of them have seen collectively.

In 766 Christmases a group of golden oldies regale us with funny, fascinating and moving stories of Christmases gone by. The most touching of these is their memories of Christmas during the war. They also give heart-warming accounts of what they love about Christmas and what it all means to them.

The film is directed by Mick Andrews for St Paul’s Arts and Media (SPAM). He says “The hardest thing about making this film was not being able to include all of these people’s amazing and moving stories. Perhaps a director’s cut will be in order one day.”

“766 Christmases” is gathering a following online and can be found at:
http://youtu.be/A47McJM-NwA

Additional information:

• St Paul's is the oldest church in Auckland, New Zealand, having been a light in the city since 1841. Find out more about St Paul’s at http://stpauls.org.nz and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul%27s_Church,_Auckland
• Watch St Paul’s short films here: http://www.youtube.com/user/stpaulsartsandmedia
• GLOW Carols by Glowstick – now in its fifth year – is a chance for Aucklanders to gather together under one gigantic roof for a spectacular Christmas celebration. Hosted by Petra Bagust and this year featuring X Factor’s Maaka Fiso; the St Paul’s band, adult and kids' choirs; and a combined churches Maori choir of 250 lead the singing on-stage and ten thousand glowsticks were given out on the night. Entry was just $6 and this year the proceeds will be donated to TEAR Fund.

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