Congratulations to all our 2007 winners. Winning entries will be screened either at our  official screening on Friday, November 2 or at the Grand Awards Ceremony on Saturday November 3, at 5:00 P.M. The following are the 2007 Redemptive Storyteller Award Winners for the Lifetime Achievement, and our three categories: Student, Professional, and Distinctly Gospel categories:

Lifetime Achievement

Dr. Ken Wales

Veteran filmmaker Ken Wales, Executive Producer of the critically acclaimed and award-winning CBS Television series Christy, began his drama career playing a juvenile role on a local radio show in Kokomo, Indiana. Wales received the first Walt Disney four-year scholarship and graduated with honours from the School of Cinema at The University of Southern California. He has acted in over 35 films and television shows.

During a fifteen year partnership with director Blake Edwards, Wales produced many memorable films including The Tamarind Seed, and The Wild Rovers. He also served as associate producer on many feature films including Darling Lili, The Great Race and The Party and Revenge of the Pink Panther.

Wales co-produced the ABC 8 hour miniseries, Emmy® nominated and Golden Globe® winner John Steinbeck's East of Eden, starring Jane Seymour, and was associate producer of the first season of Cagney and Lacey.

He was Vice President of Production for Walt Disney Pictures and has served as production supervisor and consultant for many other features.

Wales received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Greenville College in Illinois and is on the faculty of his alma mater, the School of Cinema and Television at University of Southern California.

Most recently, he was producer of the film Amazing Grace, based on the life of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce.

Student

All the World is Crying Out

T. Jara Morgan, Director
24 mins., Narrative

Schriebler Gunth is a salesman, but not a very good salesman. On what appears to be a typical day of mediocre sales performance, he starts hearing unexplained crying voices. These voices lead to mysterious events and seem to be beckoning to him. What do they want from Schriebler, and why is he hearing these voices at all? His journey to find these answers leads him to deeper discoveries concerning a terrorist plot.

Four Thorns for Aidan

Josh Smith, Director
28 mins., Narrative

This story is about a man who has lost the will to live after the death of his parents and sister in a car accident. He attempts to reconcile with his painful past through a naive little child named Rebecca whom he accidentally kidnapped while stealing a car. Rebecca's mother must reconcile with her lack of care for Rebecca. As she fights to support her family, she now must decide whether to stay at home and help the police find her daughter, or to attend an important interview.

Rhythm and Praise

Michael Johnson, Director
15 mins., Documentary

Rap music has a huge influence on the inner city. Many attribute the gangs, violence, drug use, and other inner city issues to this genre of music. There are some who are using the Rap style of music to bring a radically different message. This documentary explores how Christian Rap is impacting the Hip-Hop culture.

Rumor of Angels

Thomas Brandon, Director
48 mins., Narrative

Father Joshua is a parish priest who learns that he is the focal point for several miracles that occur to his parishioners. But Father Joshua has come to doubt his faith in God and the validity of miracles in our lifetime. Yet miracles are not enough; his faith is tested further when something happens to a good friend.

The Survivor

Christoph Warrack, Director
26 mins., Narrative

In 1956, a meteor destroys a village outside Oxford , leaving just one survivor, a young woman with incredible powers. As the government experiments on her and dark forces try to reach her, the psychologist on the case has a very different plan in mind.

Professional

Abandoned in the Arctic

Gino Del Guercio, Director
90 mins., Documentary

The dramatic story of a young man who travels to within 450 miles of the North Pole to retrace the tragic route of his great great grandfather, Lt. Adolphus W. Greely, who lost 19 of his 24 men in 1884 in the worst Arctic disaster in American history.

Abilities Unlimited

Robert Hess, Director
34 mins., Documentary

'Abilities Unlimited' is a humanistic documentary that forces people to question the line of how truly close we all are from becoming severely disabled and more importantly 'How would we want society to react on our behalf?'

Absolution

Holly Dale, Director
91 mins., Narrative

Bettina Lloyd is a big city journalist who has been running from her past her entire life. When her editor in chief sends her back to her small-town birthplace to investigate claims of medical miracles, Bettina is at last forced to confront the past and faith she left behind.

Academania

Gina Guerrieri, Director
7 mins., Narrative

After trudging through day after day of his dull, lonely life, a stodgy old professor receives an unexpected gift that takes his life in a different direction. “Academania!” is about regaining the passion for life that makes it worth living.

Alabaster

Brandon McCormick, Director
40 mins., Narrative

Alabaster is the story of a man walking the road to forgiveness. Ethan, a small-time criminal with no family or friends, wakes up one day to find a mysterious invitation. For reasons unknown to even himself, he starts on the long path to Alabaster. Just when the end is in sight Ethan begins to realize where this journey might end and the truth behind this magical place of Alabaster. But is he ready for what he finds?

A Cry from Iran

Joseph & Andre Hovsepian
51 mins., Documenary

The directors are telling their father’s story “Superintendent Haik Hovsepian” and several other Christian converts from Islam who fought for freedom of religion and become the victims of their belief, and paid the ultimate price…their lives.

A Dance for Bethany

Brian Gurley, Director
104 mins. Narrative

A dance for Bethany tells an inspiring and compelling story of how one woman risks everything to help a sex trafficked victim out of the world of slavery and into a world with a future and a hope of fulfilling a childhood dream of becoming a real dancer. The fictional story based on the reality of the sex trafficking markets in today’s US portrays Bethany Stevenson a twelve year old runaway forced into sex slavery as a stripper/prostitute.

The Danish Solution

Karen Cantor & Camilla Kjærulff
58 mins., Documetary

When Hitler threatened Denmark 's Jews, the community arose overnight to save them. Danes from all levels of society stood up to the German might at a time when most of Europe turned a blind eye. Together they hid over 7,000 people and sailed them to safety in neutral Sweden . After the war, more than 95% of the Jewish population returned to Denmark , finding their homes and belongings untouched.

Expiration Date

Rick Stevenson, Director
94 mins., Narrative

This is a romantic fable about Charles Silvercloud III whose grandfather and father were both killed by milk trucks on their 25th birthdays. Oh, and Charlie is about to turn 25. Having accepted his fate, Charlie is responsibly going about preparing for his death (buying a casket, selecting a grave plot, selling his furniture, etc.) when he meets a crazy girl who won't let him die in peace.

First Landing

Cris Krusen, Director
59 mins., Historical Drama

The adventure of the not so well known Rev. Robert Hunt who traveled across the ocean to America in 1607 and helped dedicate the new American nation to God at the First Landing at Cape Henry, Virginia.

The Gladys Cook Story

Lisa Barry, Director
53 mins., Documentary

Gladys Cook measures less than five feet tall, a tiny 74-year-old sprite of a woman born in a teepee on the rolling grain fields of the Sioux Valley Reserve. Cook’s story is not unique among Aboriginal people. What is unique is Cook’s response to what became a life of pain and adversity, a response that not only transformed her own spirit, but continues to bring joy, healing and peace to scores of other people.

Interrogation

Josh Daugherty, Director
12 mins., Narrative

A father reaches the breaking point when constant blood transfusions and harsh chemotherapy become too much for his young son to bear.

Jones Beach Boys

Ron Blake Colby, Director
92 mins., Documentary

It's been 34 years since I worked as an ocean lifeguard at Jones Beach , Long Island . I may have left, but many guards from my days at the beach are still there; one for 64 years. Revisiting these guys, I discovered the lure and determination that keeps them keeping on. They're living their dream, and we get to share.

Midnight Clear

Dallas Jenkins, Director
99 mins., Narrative

For five people spread across a Southwest town, Christmas Eve is the loneliest time of the year. A middle aged man, jobless and recently evicted, and an old woman estranged from her family, contemplate suicide; a church youth pastor takes his teens for a night of bad caroling to shut-ins; a young mother and her son visit her brain-damaged husband on the anniversary of his car accident; and on the outskirts of town, a gas station owner spends the slow day bored and depressed. As the night progresses, they randomly cross paths, and in unique and subtle ways, change each other's lives forever.

Miss HIV

Jim Hanon, Director
77 mins., Documentary

Miss HIV unearths the international conflict of HIV/AIDS policies while following the journey of a simple HIV-positive woman who enters the Miss HIV Stigma-Free beauty contest. Her story brings simple context to the bigger question: Why are we losing the war on a preventable disease?

Mr. Thornton’s Change of Heart

Nic Cornwall, Director
11 mins., Narrative

Thornton is a cynical old bloke who sneers at young lovers as he sells them cellophane-wrapped roses table-to-table. Only Mary, his supplier at the flower market, has any time for him. Whereas loneliness has made Thornton bitter, Mary accepts her lot with cheerful resignation. Of course Thornton and Mary are made for each other, but will Thornton to see the light?

Partition

Tina Pehme, Director
116 mins., Narrative

India , 1947, in the last days of the British Raj, a way of life is coming to an end. Intertwining cultures are forced to separate. As PARTITION divides a nation, two lives are brought together in a profound and sweeping story that reveals the tenderness of the human heart in the most violent of times.

Shakey’s Hill

Norman Lloyd, Director
60 mins., Documentary

In 1970, one cameraman follows a battalion of American soldiers into the Cambodian jungle. His footage and interviews capture the taking of a substantial weapons/supplies cache used by the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War. This operation was considered one of the most successful missions of American forces during the war. To those who were there, the climax of the operation became known as the taking of 'Shakey's Hill,' named after the young soldier who lost his life discovering the cache.

Shipwrecked

Doug Aberle & Brian Stewart, Directors
77 mins., Animation

Shipwrecked Adventures of Donkey Ollie is a full length animated Feature from Arizona 's own Car Angel. Animated in HD and featuring the loveable character Donkey Ollie, this delightful children’s movie is a must see. Find out why Donkey Ollie is rated number one for children's animation by Google, Yahoo and MSN search engines and why the first two Donkey Ollie adventures are now on television world wide.

When Heaven Meets Earth

Jeffrey Pohorski, Director
51 mins., Dcumentary

This is the story of one woman's desire to mediate a decades-long conflict between environmentalists and watermen, people whose livelihood depends on the blue crab fishery. For years environmentalists criticized the watermen for over-harvesting and polluting the Bay. Susan Emmerich's belief that the conflict might be resolved through faith-based solutions almost cost her, her life.

Distinctly Gospel

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

Bill Clark, Writer/Director
91 mins., Narrative

Based upon the award winning book 'The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey' by Susan Wojciechowski, a heartwarming Christmas tale for the whole family. "Christmas is pish-posh," grumbles Jonathan Toomey, the best wood carver in the valley. He’s a Scroogelike recluse; but he’s a gentle grouch, it turns out, and he hides a sad secret. He’s transformed, not by Dickensian ghosts, but by an eager seven-year-old boy and his widowed mother who ask him to make them a Christmas nativity scene.

God’s Tackle Box

Christopher Childs, Director
40 mins., Documentary

God's Tackle Box examines the strangely compatible mixture of pro wrestling and evangelical Christianity as it follows a group of aspiring and former pro wrestlers who unite to minister the word of God from the ring.

Heart of a Soul Surfer: The Bethany Hamilton Documentary

Becky Baumgartner, Director
31 mins., Documentary

A simple teenager from an isolated island becomes a beacon of hope for a worldwide audience.... 'Heart of a Soul Surfer' is the personal documentary of Bethany Hamilton.

Hidden Secrets

Carey Scott, Director
90 mins., Narrative

What if your deepest secrets were suddenly exposed? Nine friends discover just how explosive it can be when their past becomes their present.

My Christmas Soldier

Owen Smith , Director
36 mins., Narrative

In 1943 Christmas spirit and wartime emotions clash when German POWs arrive in a rural Georgia train station on Christmas Eve.

Pictures

Paul Catalanotto, Director
4 mins., Music Video

Christian Country artist, Tommy Brandt sings about his grandparents and Jesus and how he looks forward to the day when they will all be together in Heaven.

Prayer Life

Nitin Adsul, Darrel Cox and Clark McMillian, Producers
90 mins., Narrative

An attorney with the help of his religiously grounded wife, his brother-in-law, a street smart computer hacker with a degree from Georgia Tech, and an executive struggling with his conscience, try to prove his client's innocence of accounting fraud charges that the company is trying to pass off on her.

Travel the Road

Tim Scott, Director
30 mins. Documentary

Travel the Road follows the life of missionaries Tim Scott and Will Decker through the most dangerous war zones and undiscovered lands as they bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Ransomed - A True Story of Healing and Forgiveness

Scott Moore, Director
15 mins., Docudrama – Testimonial

Triptych

Lon Waitman, Director
8 mins., Animation

A trilogy of post-post-modern animated parables. The first part of the trilogy (FLUSH) is a prophetic call to the Church. The second part (ROOTS) is a prophetic call to the World. And the third part (FOOL) is a picture of the Church in the World, doing the miraculous work of the Gospel.

Twas the Day after New Year’s

Lon Waitman, Director
5 mins., Animation

A humorous, edgy take-off on the classic poem. Follow 'dude' as he discovers the real meaning of Christmas.