The
Two Stories of God Bless: There
are two stories to the making of "God Bless" the film: 1) The
story about how it gets made through sharing, collaboration and dedication;
and 2) the actual story or screenplay "God Bless".
STORY ONE: Collaboration and Sharing:
Dan Engelhard and Brad Leong are two talented filmmakers from the Silicon
Valley. Brad King and Norm Wada, co-founders of Voice Films. met them
through Gary Riekes of the Riekes Center in Menlo Park California. Gary
has dedicated his life to helping young people develop. Gary told us of
two talented and dedicated filmmakers whom we should meet.
Brad K. and Norm were immediately impressed with Brad L. and Dan. They were professional and driven. We watched a few of their films and noticed that they had good ideas and some good shots, but their work with actors could improve. We told them about our vision for Voice Films, and we recruited them as youth advisors.
About six months later, we watched another film, A Man's Past, made with professional actors and shot in 16mm black and white in Los Angeles. We were completely blown away by the quality of the film as this was better than a lot of films we had seen at film festivals. The film is about a young African American who must deal with how his mother abandoned him as a child. Dan and Brad are dedicated filmmakers.
Dan and Brad told us they were planning their next film in Los Angeles based on a story of the homeless. Thy wanted to shoot in 16mm color. Norm suggested that they shoot the film in Mini DV first and then shoot the film again in 16mm. Then, they would really know what they wanted when they shot in 16mm after shooting digitally. Brad said that they had already made the digital version and they were ready to move on.
At about the same time, we connected with Jim Knight at Culver City High and introduced Dan and Brad to his filmmaking students. They immediately became friends. Dan and Brad met Sophie Shepard, Tiffany Livingston and Eon Mora, all dedicated to filmmaking. They ended up collaborating on their respective films, sharing ideas and equipment. They helped one another and answered questions. There is no doubt that God Bless would not be possible without the incredible contribution of the Culver High Team and Jim Knight. They set the standard on positive development. Sophie's and Eon's parents also provided support to the filmmakers.
As
the projects moved forward, we brought on advisors to work with Dan and
Brad. Brad Wallace helped with their script, Debbie Brubaker with production
planning and Brad King with production. Quyen Tran and Justin Lerner from
UCLA's Advance Filmmaking program advised on organization and cinematography;
they both are giving individuals who will soon be famous.
All of the support demonstrates how youth development accelerates when
the is on the focus strengths of each youth..
STORY TWO: The Script
(download
the script - pdf)
The
script started out from a film Dan and Brad made entitled "God Bless".
Here is a synopsis: The narrative picks up with Joe as an old man taking
care of "Saint", a mentally challenged homeless man. The relationship
that Joe and Saint have is like father and son. Joe cares for Saint the
best that he can, but in the end, just as his father did, he fails and
Saint, his adopted son, is lost. Uncle Tom is the father of Joe, the protagonist
of this film. At present he is homeless and lives with his son on the
banks of a riverbed. Through flashbacks (via Joe's perspective) we find
out that Uncle Tom killed his wife, Joe's mother, in a jealous rage after
finding out that she was seeing another man. The film centers on the relationship
of Uncle Tom and Joe and then draws similarities and difference from the
relationship between Joe and Saint.
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Past Work
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| "A Man's Past" | ||
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| "A Man's Past" | ||
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