Rik Swartzwelder, the star, writer and director behind the faith-based romantic film, Old Fashioned, will be speaking about the ten-year journey from concept to release on Friday, May 1, at Peerless Road Church in Cleveland. The night will also feature an exclusive screening of the independent drama with questions and answers from attendees.
Swartzwelder's appearance kicks off the CREATE conference, sponsored by the Communications department of the Church of God of Prophecy, a weekend dedicated to discovering and celebrating talents.
"Events like the CREATE conference are a great chance for like-minded folks to come together and collectively learn and grow as artists and also explore how to better harness the arts in ways that can uplift and inspire," Mr.
Swartzwelder said. "It's also about mutual encouragement; the journey of creatives isn't always an easy one, so it's important to occasionally take the time to nurture others on the same road and to be nurtured by them as well."
Old Fashioned, which earned nearly $2 million at the box office, broke some records for a faith-based drama and more than earned back its modest production and marketing budget.
"It ended up being more than a 10-year journey from the first spark of the idea to seeing the film open in theaters nationwide," he said. "And dating culture changed quite a bit, even in that relatively short time span. What began as a simple discussion between a few friends about never seeing a mainstream romantic film that even attempted to tell our kind of personal love stories eventually turned into an indie film that, against all odds, found its way into movie houses and took the discussion to a level-and sparked some debates-we could have never dreamed of."
The film made an impact, even outside of faith-based circles, in part because of timing its release to hit during same weekend as the highly-anticipated and controversial film adaptation of E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey. Prior to the release, Hollywood publications such as Variety and Hollywood Reporter noted the "David vs. Goliath" strategy by the filmmakers.
"We broke a box office record for smaller, faith-based releases on our opening weekend, so there's no doubt that the choice to release the same weekend as Fifty Shades of Grey worked in terms of awareness," Mr. Swartzwelder said. "But it was definitely a double-edged sword. Even the simple announcement of our release date (six months in advance) put a unique kind of spotlight on our modest, little film and certainly antagonized some folks at the same time it was inspiring many others."
While the film earned kudos from faith-based media, even some mainstream film critics were impressed with its low-key lessons on courtship and dating. Glenn Kenney of RogerEbert.com said that, "It's incredibly rare to see an American movie with a Christian perspective that's more invested in philosophizing and empathizing than in eschatological pandering, and for that alone Old Fashioned deserves commendation. The movie's also very well acted and beautifully shot."
The CREATE conference will also feature more than 20 workshops in areas such as writing, design, technical support, music, drama, and more. On Saturday evening and Sunday morning, GRAMMY-Award nominee Nicole C. Mullen will speak about songwriting and performing as well as being the special guest for the conference's last session on Sunday morning.
For more information, visit
www.createcon.org or call 423-559-5128.