San Antonio - Part 3 (Film Academy)

The film academy was an intense time of learning, inspiration, fun, and so much more! It's hard to describe it. It was only three days long, but the amount of information and inspiration they packed into those three days was huge!

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but it exceed any expectations I might have had, and more!

Some of my highlights were:

~Kirk Cameron's session on acting

~Geoff Botkin's session on script writing (that was really awesome)

~ Doug Phillips sessions on filmmaking and a correct worldview

~Stephen Kendrick's talk on directing

~Getting to preview a few scenes from "Courgageous" (by the way, it's AMAZING, and the minute it come out, you all should see it! :)

I really came away from the academy with a new appreciation for film, and the impact a well made film can have on the culture. I've felt strongly for some time that Christians should be more involved in our culture, in more areas than the "typical Christian ministry areas." It was so exciting to see the vision that these men have for taking back our culture!

I'm really excited about being a part of making Christian films, and having a higher standard for everything we do! I'm so sick of lame Christian films that are always second rate. I think we're finally realizing that we don't have to always be a step behind the world in things. That as Christians, we should be striving for the best in everything we do, for the glory of God!

I got to spend some quality time with this guy during some of the sessions. :) He was so good though, I hardly missed anything!

We ate most of our meals at the food court in the mall. It was amusing, actually. They do things quite differently there: the vendors are constantly encouraging and badgering you to accept their samples, and buy food from them. You can walk along in front of each of their counters, and almost get filled up just from the free samples. :)

Stephen; Daniel; Jeffrey Griffith (our stuntman from Accountable)

I spent most of my time with these guys. :)

San Antonio - Part 2

We had so many little adventures among our travelling, some of them a little more nerve-wracking, some of them were just funny. We arrived in the San Antonio airport around 8:30, Texas time. We were tired and very hungry, and didn't have a super good idea of what we were doing at that point.

When I booked the hotel, they said something about a shuttle that would come from the airport, and in my ignorance, I somehow assumed it would be directly outside the door, ready to take us to our hotel, oh yes, and of course it would be Free!

Well, that wasn't the case. After lugging all our bags and the stroller outside into the very humid Texas evening, we realized that the shuttles are not only Not free, they were actually quite expensive, and if we even wanted to take one, they would have to call for it, it wasn't waiting for us.

Then a very nice taxi driver assured us that taking the taxi was much cheaper, and the taxis were all lined up, ready to go. So, we took a taxi, and after about ten minutes, we arrived at our hotel. By this time, poor Ian was feeling the same way as Stephen and I, but was expressing his thoughts in a very vocal manner. After getting into the hotel, confirming that we did have reservations, we were finally in our room.

The hotel, called The Menger Hotel, was beautiful! It was pretty much a cross between a really beautiful museum and a hotel. Our room looked like I'm sure it must have looked about a hundred years ago. (in a good way!)

Phone booths in the main hallway of our hotel.

I really wish I'd taken more pictures of our hotel, but unfortunately, I didn't. :P

Just outside our hotel was the River Centre Mall. We walked through it nearly every day to get to the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which is where the Film Academy was being held. We walked along the famous river walk every day, and it was always a treat!

Since it's so warm in San Antonio, there were a lot more outdoor eating places, like this one. Tables over-looking the river walk. There were tons of places to eat along the riverwalk itself too! Stephen and I walked along it one evening, it was amazing! There was live music in some of the restaurants, little lights everywhere, shrubberies and waterfalls, walls, gates, stone steps....I loved it!Starbucks :)

The riverwalk....pictures really don't do it justice!

The Municipal Auditorium, where about half of the movies from the film festival were shown, and where the Jubilee Awards Ceremony took place.

A beautiful little courtyard on the way to the Municipal building. I simply loved all the amazing old building! The architecture was incredible, and everything was so old, and so well kept!

I am quite convinced that San Antonio is one of, if not the very most beautiful city I've ever been to!

My feet got so sore every day from walking (although that was mostly because of the shoes I was wearing :P) but it was so worth it! I love travelling! I love seeing new places, and getting away from everything that's normal. There are so many amazing places in the world, and I'm so grateful that Stephen and I were able to take this trip! We had so much fun together!

Travelling - San Anonio, Part 1

Wow, it's been a long time since I've written here! The reason for my absence is not that I have nothing to write about, but in fact, that I've been so busy, I haven't had any time to write! There are so many things that have happened lately that it's going to be a challenge to capture them all. But I shall do my very best.

Stephen, Ian and I went on a trip recently. To Texas. What was in Texas? The San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. (SAICFF) We've been planning this trip since January this year, way before Ian was even born. It was an incredible time there! It was doubly exciting to be going, because the short film we made back in June, Accountable, was accepted into the festival, so we were going with the knowledge that our film was going to be showing!

We drove to Seattle, and flew to Texas from there. Our trip to the coast was soooooo beautiful! I simply cannot get enough of fall, but fall in the mountains, and fall on the coast, where colors are ten times as vivid, and the scenery seems like something out of a beautiful fantasy story, was such an experience!

Ian was such a good traveller! In spite of being in his carseat for hours, he still had smiles for us!

He did such a good job with flying too! I have to admit, I was a little worried about it. I mean, there's only so much you can do when your baby starting crying, or even screaming, and everyone's in very close quarters! But we were really blessed to have very gracious people sharing our row, and none of them seemed too bothered by him. (either that, or they were amazing actors! :P)

I love airports. I love watching people, and seeing the incredible diversity in race, lifestyle, personality.....I love the shops, the food, the air of anticipation as everyone is always going somewhere!