The art of contemplative filmmaking

In a New Light: Spirituality and the Media Arts Ron Austin. Eerdmans, 2007. 95 pages.

In a New Light is a thoughtful concise book meant most for filmmakers sympathetic to issues of faith. It’s not really for people who win at movie trivia, except perhaps the middle section on the history of spiritual films, most of which are seldom found at your local video store.

Austin is a veteran of Hollywood, a writer/producer for more than 40 years, having worked on TV shows such as Charlie’s Angels, Matlock, and Mission: Impossible. He is one of the few who can claim to have been instructed by greats like Charlie Chaplin and Jean Renoir. Yet, this book is a meeting of old and new. His wisdom gained from years of work in “the industry” is meant to help those now working in film to live up to the fullness of the word independent.

Brief chapters offer spiritual foundations for creative work, merging a thoughtfulness of living to the craft of filmmaking. It projects the same authenticity, intelligence, and excellence chronicled in faith-based artistic periodicals such as Image Journal (see Austin’s essay in issue 43 of imagejournal.org). One weakness here is lack of detail. Perhaps that’s his point – to provoke further attentiveness. Understanding and applying ideas take time and reflection.

Austin’s work with the Unica arts collective illustrates his ideas. He experimented with a group of young filmmakers working in Hollywood and applied the principles he shares in seminars and writing. Their collaboration resulted in the feature film “Blue in Green” (blue-in-green.com). The emphasis was on process and relationships rather than a traditional Hollywood product. Completion of the final film was a bonus. The team’s use of improvisation and equal contribution of the crew demanded care by everyone from actors to cinematographers to keep the conflicts of the story and relationships on the film set grounded in truth and integrity.

The middle section of the book is devoted to Austin’s brief spiritual history of film, chaptered with films to make any cinephile grin. His must-watch list includes Dreyer, Chaplin, Renoir, the Italian neo-realists, the French New Wave, Bresson, Bergman, Scorsese and Woody Allen, Kieslowski and Tarkovsky. Movie goers acclimatized to Hollywood cinema will struggle with many of these mostly foreign films, in the same way the “contemporary” church-goer would grow restless attending Catholic Mass. But, attentiveness takes time, in the pew, the theatre, or on DVD. Unfortunately, part of the discipline involved with these films is finding copies.

This tiny book is timely. Thoughtful filmmakers will find a friend here. Austin knows what he is talking about, has the reputation to back it up, and writes concisely about the craft of filmmaking. Perhaps Austin’s next book can elaborate on these ideas in greater length with stories from his life of working in Hollywood.

Kevin Nikkel is a filmmaker and educator working in the Winnipeg film community. His most recent documentary explores the experiences of addicts seeking treatment for drug dependency.