Just last Friday, I facilitated a short seminar on “Film and Faith”, an exploration on how to use film for evangelization and values education. Most of the participants were catechists coming from different parts of the Philippines. They were particularly interested in learning how to utilize film in catechism.

It is undeniable that films are potent vehicles to communicate religious truths, meanings, and values. Like other popular channels of communication, films have the power to challenge, strengthen or even alter our beliefs, values, and attitudes. Integrating films in catechism is of utmost importance because just about everyone watches movies, and needless to say, movies are about life and the stuff of faith.

In the seminar, I talked about Jesus-Figures and Christ-Figures in films. A Jesus-Figure is any representation of Jesus himself while a Christ-Figure is any character who is presented as resembling Jesus in a significant and substantial way. So that the participants would be able to see the historical development of cinematic portrayals of Jesus, I have presented film clips from the very first Jesus feature film (La Vie et Passion du Christ, 1912) up to the latest (Color of the Cross, 2006). I have also included clips from such controversial films as Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Life of Brian (1978) and the Last Temptation of Christ (1988).

For the discussion on Christ-Figures, I prepared film clips from such popular movies as Dead Man Walking, Superman, Lion King, Happy Feet, Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and many others. I also included Mga Munting Tinig and Magnifico as Christ-Figures in Philippine cinema.

I concluded the seminar with a workshop on how to use film clips in catechism.

To the participants: as you have requested, here are two of the photos I took during the seminar. Please click on the photos to download them.