About Witch City - Interview With the Director
Welcome to our blog! During the next couple months we will hear from different contributors learning a little bit about who they are, their testimonies, and their experience with Witch City and the Children of Light
. This week we sat down with Chris Brands, director of Witch City to ask about the film. Check out the interview below…
How did this film come about?
Back in September, 2016 Justin and DJ approached me about coming with them to Salem, MA to film this outreach they did. They shared some stories from past years and it all sounded very exciting. Global Awakening gave me the go ahead so I packed up my gear and went. I wasn’t fully sure what was going to come of what I was shooting even while I was shooting it. But I had the idea that this could make a great film so I just tried to shoot anything and everything that I could. Once I got back and looked at the footage we played around with a few ideas including releasing short stories, or an episodic series. Eventually we decided that a feature film would be the best way to package the content in a way that people would find entertaining, captivating, and impactful.
Why the title Witch City?
Salem, MA is often referred to as The Witch City or The City of Witches. The city has embraced the nickname so much so that even the city’s police patch contains the nickname and an emblem of a witch. The title is simply referring to Salem and a group of Christians visiting the city. While the film is about this event that happens in Salem, it is more so about what happens when God’s children let their light shine out of a place of love as opposed to a place of fear and judgement.
What makes Witch City unique?
What’s unique about Witch City is that we got to capture so much right as it was happening. It’s not after the fact testimonies, everything that is talked about is happening right in front of you on the screen. And then as you watch these things happen you also get to hear interview responses about what was happening internally. You get to see how words of knowledge, prophecy, and healing is given and then you get to hear tips from those who did it. I think this film is not only entertaining and inspiring but from a practical stand point it could help a lot of people step out and take risks for God. Sometimes just having a practical example to watch is all you need to gain confidence to go do it yourself.
This film also puts a face to many of those the church consistently condemns. I think sometimes it is easy for the church to judge certain people such as witches, psychics or those in the LGBTQ community because they don’t personally know anybody participating in those things. Once you realize that these people are just like you and me, they have dreams, they have families, they have doubts and fears. Once you realize that and get to know them it is easier to move towards them with love instead of pushing them away in fear. That instead of having an agenda and building relationship for the sake of converting or changing we can build relationship for the sake of relationship and let the love of God just flow through who we are as we release hope, peace, and joy. Hopefully this film helps people to do that.
Who is this film for?
Everyone! While the story is told from the perspective of Christians and is geared toward a Christian audience I like to believe there’s something in it that everyone can find interesting and informative. The goal of this film isn’t to convert people to Christianity, or to sway people to a certain stream of Christianity. The goal is to inspire people to love others. I would hope that Christians can watch and be inspired to think creatively about how the gospel can be shared. More importantly I hope they can have a better understanding of people they may not usually come into contact with. On the other side I hope that non-Christians can watch and see not all Christians just want to yell at them through a blow horn and that many of us care about them regardless of whether or not they become a Christian.
What didn’t make the cut?
A lot. I got to capture so many great moments and only so many of them were able to make it into the film. Many of these along with extended cuts of some of the interviews will be put together as special features and made available along with the purchase of the movie via digital download and DVD. There are also many testimonies and great moments that did not get filmed. Many of these we hope to share on our blog at witchcityfilm.com
Does Global on Demand plan to make more original content?
Yes! This is something new for us so we’re still trying to figure it all out. However as opportunities come up and ideas present themselves we hope to be offering more content like this in the future. If this is something you enjoy and you’d like to see more of please consider giving to Global Awakening and subscribing to Global On Demand.