Faith & Values Awards Celebrate Christian Films
The 19th Annual Movieguide Faith & Values Awards, also known as the "Christian Oscars," was held this past weekend in Los Angeles in honor of films promoting faith or positive values in the film industry.
Some of the notable winners include "The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader" for the most inspiring film of the year; "Amish Grace" for the most inspiring TV movie production of the year, aired on Lifetime Television; "Toy Story 3" for the best family movie; "Secretariat" for the best mature audience film; and "Mao's Last Dancer" for promoting positive American values.
During the awards ceremony, the founder of MovieGuide and chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, Dr. Ted Baeher, gave an extensive overview of a report that shows topics he has personally been praying for since its founding in 1985.
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He revealed that since he began working with MovieGuide, the production of R-rated films dropped from 82 percent to about 30 percent. There has also been an apparent rise of films with positive Christian content, from 10 percent in 1991, to 41 percent in 2000, to 60 percent in 2010.
The report stated, "Since we started to redeem the values of the mass media of entertainment, we have seen more and more of the results of our strategic efforts to clean the screens because 1) the number of pro-Christian movies has increased dramatically; 2) Hollywood studios have developed working relationships with us; and 3) more and more top Hollywood executives and creative talent have joined with us to produce better movies and entertainment.
"There are now more family movies and more movies with positive Christian content and positive Christian worldviews than since the end of the Golden Age of Hollywood in 1966."
While Baeher handed over 25 awards, the prestigious Grace Award for Most Inspiring Performance in Movies was given to its host Kevin Sorbo for his role in "What if..." – a film about a man returning to God after years of following his personal ambitions in life.
The Grace Award for Most Inspiring Performance in Television was given to Madison Mason for "Amish Grace."
The event's lineup also included Kathy Ireland, Michael Bolton and Taraji P. Henson. Some of the performers included "American Idol" Ace Young and gospel duo Mary Mary.
According to Baeher, this year's awards ceremony has seen more star power since its 1993 debut. He said that actors Diane Lane and Dean Cain wanted to join and present an award but couldn't make it.
He told FOX411's Pop Tarts, "We have more stars, more executives, more foundations, and more representatives of the faith community. We've never had this many stars before!"
The winner for the Most Inspiring Movie and Most Inspiring TV Programs of 2010 received a $100,000 Epiphany Prize, sponsored by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supports informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers and theologians for the purposes of definitional clarity and new insights.
