ruah arts group

Catholic movie producers wanted. No experience required(!) A background in the arts or television/film production preferred. The current film is about our Lady of Guadalupe and we are looking into the prospects of shooting in Mexico.

SYNOPSIS
In the twilight of the Aztec culture, indigenous Cuauhtlatoatzin witnesses the fall of the Aztec world led by Conquistador Hernán Cortés and is faced with an uncertain future. Baptized by the first Franciscan missionaries, ‘Juan Diego’ experiences an apparition of a woman clothed in light, resembling an Aztec princess. Moved by the power of her message Diego realizes that it is the Virgin Mary and struggles to convince church authorities who will not be moved until they witness for themselves the greatest sign
of all (Copyright Mosaiah Entertainment).

REQUIREMENTS:
–Dedicated, passionate and enthusiastic about making films.
–Knowledge of the film industry preferred.
–Strong written/oral communication skills.
–A proactive, rather than reactive “wait and see” attitude to achieve the specific production goals necessary to complete the film.
–A “CDA” (Can Do Attitude).

SKILLS:
So what does a producer do? Typically your average Hollywood producer does the following:
–Reads, researches and assesses ideas and finished scripts
–Commissions writers
–Secures the rights to novels, plays or screenplays
–Builds and develops a network of contacts
–Serves as a liaison and discusses projects with financial backers
–Uses computer software packages for screenwriting, budgeting and scheduling
–Hires key staff, including the director and a crew.
–Controls the budget and allocates resources
–Helps to pull together all the strands of the creative and practical talent involved on a project
–Organizes the shooting schedule
–Troubleshoots issues with various department headson the shoot
–Supervises the progress of the project from production to post production
–Brings the finished production in on time and under
budget

For more info on TEPEYAC HILL please visit: http://www.mosaiah.com/tepeyac/

Send resumes or inquiries to: films@mosaiah.com

“How can we go forward in architecture without focusing so much on the past? It seems like there’s so much focus on the past,” the teetering skeptic asked the learned Architectural Historian Dennis McNamara several weekends ago. I went to the Art & Architecture Conference at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in LaCrosse, Wisconsin last Saturday, on the feast of St. Lucy, and couldn’t be more pleased.

Archbishop Burke, back in town for business and a quick holiday visit to family, opened the conference with great depth and simplicity by reminding us that we are all in statu viae. “Every pilgrimage is a return to the Source of beauty, truth and all love,” said the genius of canon law, speaking more like a mystic than an ecclesial supreme judge. He set the tone for the day, reminding us that–as I quoted a friend in a previous entry–the fine arts were born on the altar, and the renewal of sacred liturgy, spaces and ultimately, culture, will end and begin in Christ, our Eucharistic Love.

Denis McNamara is the Jonah Goldberg of Church Architecture. He’s every bit the architectural historian and bow tie sporting professor, but wields a wryness and common sensical dialect all-too-uncommon in churchy intellectuals. This makes him a great teacher and made him a fabulous key note speaker for the Art & Architecture Conference, and certainly good for a couple of laughs. The motivation in his grad studies wasn’t an ethereal encounter with an antique edifice, but simply people asking him at parties, “Why is my church so ugly?”

People have known intuitively for years that en vogue architecture–especially within ecclesial settings–wasn’t….well, quite right. In fact, they sensed it was just plain wrong. What has happened, McNamara says, is that architecture, which has a language, and can be read, has been misread for years, and it seems in contemporary architecture, that language has been forgotten altogether. In its place has emerged a sort of polished neanderthal grunting. In going “forward” with no reference to universal principals, we’ve regressed. Modern architecture is egotistical and centripetal, while classical architecture in a church is meant to be centrifugal, but not just pointing out, but pointing Up, an image of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

In short, we always go forward (Philippians 3:13), but we build upon transcendent truths, including architectural truths, giving our vote to the “democracy of the dead,” the wisdom of the past in all humility. I met an architect in the not too recent past, a proud creator of what Duncan Stroik calls “prayer barns,” and as he explained his multi-purpose church, he *actually* compared his innovation in design to that of Raphael and Michelangelo. While we are all artworks of the Creator in progress, I thought it tremendously  ironic that said architect should even utter so vain a thought. It is a privilege to build a temple for the Lord, and a calling, and any artist should give thanks for their gifts and avocation, laying their natural and supernatural gifts at the foot of the altar and before the wisdom of the masters in order to bear fruit. It’s only when we do this, whether literally or figuratively, that true beauty comes forth. Anything less is the mark of the unoriginality of sin, and an icon of evil.

There was really so much packed into his talk to fit in into one entry, and the other speakers were quite good as well. Stay tuned for a full article.

Finally, nothing can speak so well as participating in the Liturgy and praying a walk through the gorgeous shrine as well. You must go, and if you cannot go, visit the Shrine web site.

Happy Christmas, and all the lovely feasts of Christmastide!

JS

On a far different note than the last blog entry, A one day conference on sacred art and architecture will be held on December 13 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m..  The day will include discussion of sacred architecture and art, Mass celebrated by Archbishop Raymond Burke, founder of the shrine, and ending the day with a walking tour of the Shrine Church led by the artists and architects who worked on the shrine church and grounds.  See www.guadalupeshrine.org for more information.  The cost is $20 per person.  Seating is limited and
registrations will be considered on a first come – first served basis

The Schedule is as follows:

8:00        Registration

8:45        Archbishop Raymond L. Burke Welcome to the Shrine

9:00        Keynote Speaker: Denis McNamara Shadow, Image, and Reality: Church Architecture as Image of Heaven

10:30     Christopher Carstens: An overview of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’Guidelines on restoration and building of

sacred places

11:00     Holy Mass Main Celebrant: Archbishop Raymond L. Burke.

12:00     Lunch

1:00        Michael Swinghamer: Architectural Challenges in the Buildingf the Shrine Church

1:30        John Canning Bringing Ecclesiastical Beauty to the Shrine Church

2:00        Anthony Visco: The Art of Devotion

2:45        Walking tour of the Shrine Church Led by Anthony Visco, join artists and

architects for a  first hand look at the Shrine Church

4:00        Adjourn Program