2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival

The 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, and associated Christian Filmakers' Academy, were events that took place in the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio, TX from January 5th-10th, 2009. The Dozerfleet founder attended both the Academy and the festival afterward. Events were sponsored by Vision Forum Ministries. The event was one of several of its kind throughout the years, and was succeeded by four other such events. However, the events were discontinued after the dissolution of Vision Forum in 2014.

The event is most notable for how its one featured film, The Meaning of "Choice", influenced the plot to Navyrope.

Academy
The academy lasted for three days, and allowed enrollment from numerous parts of the United States and Canada, with rumored British and Egyptian enrollment. Doug Phillips, son of then Constitution Party leader Howard Phillips, operated as the head of the academy.

Schedule
The beginning Monday of the Academy featured an introduction to worldview analysis in film making, followed by Geoffrey Botkin's discussion of "Filmmakers' 12 Most Common Mistakes." Following, Isaac Botkin gave two lectures on cinematography; which included a discussion of color grading for film. Color grading examples ranged from E.T. to Jurassic Park to Déjà Vu.

Tuesday included a discussion of stunts by Canadian stuntman Jimmy Broyden. Wednesday concluded the academic discussions, starting with a lecture on the RED camera and ending with guest speaker Benjamin Botkin's analysis of the value of music in film. A recurring joke throughout was: "If you use disco music, you're film's a dinosaur already." After events with this concluded, the festival schedule began. Academy enrollments were issued diplomas as a token of gratitude for their participation.

Faculty and speakers
Speakers consisted of the following:

Note: Not to be confused with John Erwin, the voice of He-Man.
 * Peter Pallock, an instructor from the Institute of Photographic Studies
 * Jon Erwin, producer and director of A Hope and a Future
 * Jimmy Broyden, a professional stunt man
 * Stephen Kendrick, the writer and producer of Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and associate producer of Fireproof
 * Logan Craft, producer of Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
 * Geoffrey Botkin, writer, director, and producer
 * Isaac Botkin, director and associate producer
 * Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum
 * James Finn, representative from Panavision

Festival
The film festival itself opened on January 8th of 2009, and lasted until the 10th. It featured guest appearances from Dean Jones, Kirk Cameron, George Sarris, Charlie Zahm, and the Von Trapp Children.

There were over 50 films featured in the festival, ranging from independent shorts made for only $800 to quasi-professional presentations made on more modest film budgets from groups which included Answers in Genesis Ministries. The large features included Expelled and Fireproof, with a few award-winning lesser features which included The Widow's Might and some highly-nominated short works which included Pencil Town, Stained, and The Sower. Fireproof won an award for Best Feature-Length Presentation. The Best-in-Show and $101,000 cash prize giveaway winner was The Widow's Might, written by John R. Moore.

Comedy

 * iWitness

Documentary

 * Binding Faith
 * The Rock from Which We Were Hewn
 * Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
 * Exposing a Trojan Horse
 * Our Created Cosmos
 * Noah's Ark: Thinking Outside the Box
 * Tim
 * The Story of Victory

Drama

 * The Meaning of "Choice"
 * Dialtone
 * Fireproof
 * A Mysterious Way
 * ''The Sword
 * The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry
 * Pilgrim's Progress: Journey to Heaven
 * Pendragon: Sword of His Father
 * Bread Alone
 * The Terri Schiavo Story
 * Coppelius
 * The Sound of a Dirt Road
 * Click Clack Jack: A Rail Legend
 * Stained

Genre unknown

 * Signals of Grace


 * Precious Treasure
 * The Knight with Chivalry
 * A Journey of Hope
 * For Honor
 * As Always


 * The Widow and Judge


 * Turn Our Hearts


 * The Prodigal Trilogy


 * The Other Son
 * Hidden Treasure
 * Dad: The Hero in the Wild West
 * Council's Commission
 * Collection of Fortunate Happenings


 * The Sower
 * On Wings of Angels
 * Journey of Honor
 * A Full House of Blessing
 * Free Wheelchair Mission


 * An American Adventure
 * Animals in the Bible
 * Throw a Few Things on the Ground
 * The Widow's Might