Christian filmmaker Dave Christiano calls Hollywood “the most powerful, destructive force on the planet,” but he is trying to change that one movie at a time.
Christiano — who along with his twin brother Rich runs Five and Two Pictures — has been in Richmond Hill promoting their new movie, “Remember the Goal,” which opens at Royal Cinemas in Pooler on Aug. 26.
“Hollywood will say they don’t have any influence, but a 30-second Super Bowl ad costs $4.7 million,” Christiano told the Richmond Hill Rotary Club on July 21. “Why pay that much if there’s no influence?”
“Remember the Goal” is about a cross-country team at an all-girls Christian school based on Scripture (1 Corinthians 10:31, which says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”) and has what Christiano says are life lessons for teens, parents and coaches.
“There are 12 faith-based movies opening in the next 11 weeks, but this is the only one that actually presents the gospel,” he said. “And it’s based on real life. I don’t write scripts where everything turns out rosy.”
Although “Remember the Goal” is opening in 100 theaters in 10 states, it was not originally scheduled to come to the Savannah area. Sandra Elliott of Georgia Game Changers Running Co. changed that.
“When I saw the trailer on Georgia Milesplit, and saw the potential impact the message of the movie could have on the runners of the area, I was impressed,” she said.
(You can read more about the movie and watch the trailer at www.fiveandtwopictures.com.)
“If it wasn’t for Sandra, we wouldn’t be bringing the movie to the area,” Christiano said. “I’m very grateful for her help and excited our movie will now play here. It’s coming to theaters only. There will be no DVD or online release, so if people want to see it, they’ll have to watch it on the big screen.”
Christiano made the 500-mile drive from his home in Nashville, Tennessee, to spend a few days here promoting the movie. Aside from his appearance at Rotary Club, he was a guest at the Richmond Hill/Bryan County Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours on July 21, hosted by Game Changers, and he ran in Saturday’s Red Hot Chili Pepper 5K.
Christiano, a former high school and college cross-country runner and coach, said he tried to make the movie as realistic as possible.
“We included a few scenes that runners can relate to and to give people who don’t know anything about cross country running a feel for what it’s like,” he said.
Cross-country teams are scored on the performance of their top five runners, Christiano said, so the movie has five characters who each represent a common problem teens face today. The girls deal with issues such as trying to help a friend who has gotten involved with drugs, low self-image, divorce and dating.
“These are all very real problems teens are facing,” he said. “And parents and coaches can learn a lot from the coach in the movie about how they impact kids.”