'Holy Ghost' Film Raises $120K in Less Than Five Days on Kickstarter
Christian filmmaker Darren Wilson created a Kickstarter page on Thursday to raise money for an upcoming film project about the Holy Spirit, and after fewer than five days, nearly 800 backers have already pledged more than $120,000 to his cause.
Wilson, founder of Wanderlust Productions, is the creator of documentary films such as "Finger of God," "Furious Love" and "Father of Lights." Each of the films focuses on a different characteristic of God, and documents different "God encounters" people around the world have had.
"Holy Ghost," the film concept that donors have so eagerly invested in, will be about the nature of the Holy Spirit and the search for evidence of his influence on Earth.
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"Growing up in a fairly traditional evangelical church and community, I always viewed the Holy Spirit as this almost unknowable, vapor-like being that I could never relate to. But if He is truly a Person of the Trinity, then it stands to reason that the Holy Spirit has a personality, and that is ultimately what I want to explore in this new film," Wilson said in a statement on his production company's website.
The film director said in a blog post last week that at one point he thought he was done creating "God adventure" movies. He was both creatively and physically tired from having made a trilogy of films, he explained, but the prospect of making of "Holy Ghost" has him excited again.
"That journey – the journey of Finger of God, Furious Love, and Father of Lights – has come to an end. It's a journey that culminated in my friendship with God, and there is nowhere for that particular story to go anymore," he wrote. "So with Holy Ghost, I'm going to be starting a new journey, with a new artistic vision and style, and I'm going to walk it out as a friend of the living God. That, more than anything, excites me the most."
As a way to encourage others to back the film financially, extra incentives are being offered for various donation amounts on "Holy Ghost" Kickstarter page. Those who pledge $7,000 or more and $10,000 or more, for example, will be given the opportunity to travel internationally and be a part of the film crew for a few days. Those who donate $20 or more will get a "sneak peak" of the film before it is completed, and may even get the opportunity during post-production to influence some of the content of the final product.
Those working on the "Holy Ghost" project hope to have it completed by July 2014. Attempts at reaching Wilson before publication time were unsuccessful.
