Runtime:
83 min

Genre:
Dramadey





Synopsis:
In the dreary winter of Cape Cod, 12-year old Gideon Bellamont goes on
a religious crusade with his adoptive father Danny Ziegfeld, a gay
theater director and prominent figure in the community. The
townspeople refuse to listen to Gideon's religious rants and his
mounting frustration drives him to use increasingly violent methods.



Name and Position of Filmmakers:
Jason Jiang: Producer

Website:
www.evangelistmovie.com

Country of Production:
USA

Country of Filmming:
USA

Date of Completion:
12/18/2009

Production Budget       
100000 (in U.S. Dollar)

What is the Premiere Status of the Film?
World Premiere

Is there profanity, nudity, violence, gore, etc? 
Profanity, violence and gore. 17 and up

Will someone from the film be attending the festival? If so, who? What
dates?
Director and Producers 

Message:
We would love to attend the festival in Florida.

Director Statement    

    
At the heart of The Evangelist is a yearning for more communication 
between the religious and liberal freethinkers. Neither taking sides or 
making value statements, the film pits the two groups together and 
illustrates the dangers of intolerance. Danny is a fixture of 
Provincetown, a very eccentric and countercultural community, while 
Gideon is a self-serious, fundamentalist. Gideon and Danny are both 
stubborn and resigned in their ways, acting on their own behalf rather 
than trying to understand each other.



In a town known for its queer population, it is Gideon’s religious 
beliefs that deviate from the norm. Everyone refuses to listen to 
Gideon’s words and instead of becoming more agreeable, Gideon grows 
increasingly abrasive, antagonizing the whole town. He judges and 
attacks them rather than sharing good news. Ultimately, his intentions 
are in the right place. He wants to spread God’s word, because he 
believes that will lead people to salvation. But his method suggests 
otherwise. In the same vein, the townspeople’s unwavering refusal to 
listen to any religious ideas fuels Gideon’s anger, resulting in a 
standstill of bitter opposition.

    
  

Production Notes
"German Expressionism and Edward Gorey"
Chapman’s visual style for the film was largely influenced by the works of Edward Gorey and the German Expressionist movement. This was one of the main reasons he chose to shoot the film in black and white, to play with contrasts and textures rather than color.

During storyboarding, Chapman kept a copy of Edward Gorey’s Alphabet Book nearby, basing some frames directly off a drawing. Like the film, Edward Gorey’s work can be unsettling in a peculiar way. standstill of bitter opposition. Chapman sought to apply the ethos of German Expressionism. One of its main principles was to externalize a character’s emotions using the set, lighting, and the actor’s physical movements to create a unified feeling.

Slow motion sequences and fluid tracking shots augment the visual cues from Edward Gorey and German Expressionism, eliciting a sense of weary restlessness, as the camera hovers through the action. “The film has a humorous surface,” Chapman says, “but I wanted to maintain an ominous and gothic atmosphere, which foregrounds the film’s sardonic spirit.”

"Homelessness"
Director Nate Chapman spent a year without a home using all his income as a restaurant server at Henry’s End in Brooklyn Heights to finance the film. At the end of his junior year at NYU, Chapman moved out of the dorms and onto the streets. “I spent a night on Union Square while still living in the dorms, just to test it out,” he says.

Chapman showered in the school gym and kept his clothes in a locker there. But since the locker was for daily use, he couldn’t keep a lock on it and many of his favorite shirts got stolen. He carried around a toothbrush and toothpaste, along with peanut butter, pita, hummus and granola—a portable and inexpensive breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Finding a place to sleep was a little less structured. For months, he found a different place to sleep each night—Central Park, Union Square, street corners, anywhere. “I’d wake up on a park bench in Chinatown, freezing my balls off,” says Chapman. “The best part, I’d pull out a grapefruit marinated duck breast from Henry’s End where I worked and take a huge bite—pretty typical breakfast, right?”

By being homeless, Chapman managed to raise about 60% of the shooting budget. “My eating habits got a little funky,” Chapman says, “but it wasn’t so bad. It got the film made, and that’s what’s important.”