In this age of Flip video cameras and YouTube, just about anyone can be a filmmaker. But only a select few can perfect the art of storytelling on the big screen.

And there’s no doubt that that the filmmakers behind the works that graced the screen of the Algonquin Arts Theater April 16 for the 2011 RE:IMAGE Film Festival were in fact true visual artists. Hailing from locations as far reaching as Italy and Brazil to local communities in the Diocese of Trenton, the RE:IMAGE entrants presented a wide array of cinematic offerings, from poignant documentaries and moving dramas to lighthearted, entertaining stories that delighted audiences.

Despite the diversity of their works, however, the filmmakers all had one thing in common – a shared mission of presenting artistic works that deliver a positive, inspiring message.

Conveying a Message
For filmmaker Joe Gleason, a Minnesota native and recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend., Ind., it has been a lifelong passion to use film as a medium to tell faith-inspired stories. That was partially motivated by his father, who would regularly pause movies that Gleason and his siblings watched as children and ask them to point out things being presented that were morally objectionable.

“That was really helpful for me, to learn how to critically watch a film and identify things that were being promoted as so normal that you don’t even pay attention to them,” said Gleason, who drove from South Bend to attend the film festival.

“That disturbs me a lot when I am watching movies and realizing that some of the basic realities and assumptions are in fact terrible and very sinful,” he added.

“So in my films, I want everything to be communicating Christ.”

That is the approach he brought to his film festival entry, the World War II-era drama “Almost Evening.” Scripting dramatic works that play on historical events is for Gleason an excellent way to deliver his message to an audience.

“It is turning reality just one degree so you are able to see things that are often very familiar in a way that is strange and new, almost like you can experience it for the first time,” he said.

Real life events were also an inspiration for the film “What If…” and its creator, Douglas Hill, who drew on experiences from his own life in writing the provocative drama. The story, inspired by the reactions Hill received from strangers after growing his hair long, asks how Jesus would be received if he appeared in modern society with the long hair and beard that he is traditionally depicted with.

Posing such questions, Hill said, is interesting to him because it pushes viewers to ask themselves questions and think about issues differently, such as how much importance society places on one’s appearance.

“I wouldn’t say that it is the job of every movie to necessarily tell a story with a message,” said Hill, a New Jersey native who now resides in Boulder, Colo., but returned to attend RE:IMAGE. “There is something to be said for the ones that have a pure entertainment value, but the ones that have a message interest me the most.”

Spreading Truth
For other RE:IMAGE entrants, their drive to create was fueled by true stories that they felt needed to be told to a wider audience.

That was the case for Elisa Baricelli and Shawn Kildea, makers of “Iron Mike: The Parish Priest,” which focuses on the life of the late Msgr. Michael McCorristin. The idea was sparked from discussions between Kildea, a professor in the department of communications and journalism at Rider University, Lawrenceville, and Baricelli, who at the time was one of Kildea’s students.

Growing up as a parishioner of St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton, where Msgr. McCorristin was pastor, Kildea was greatly inspired by the priest during his youth. Baricelli, who grew up in Hillsborough, had a similar relationship with her pastor, Msgr. Liam Minogue, who she later discovered was a friend of Msgr. McCorristin. Their shared positive memories of priests from their youth led Kildea and Baricelli to produce a film that documented Msgr. McCorristin’s legacy in the Diocese of Trenton.

“We wanted to talk about a man who really did affect people’s lives,” said Baricelli. “These are raw, real stories. It is not from someone’s imagination, it is the truth.”

“You have a different sort of motivation when you are doing this kind of storytelling,” added Kildea.

“We were motivated to do this out of real passion and that’s one of the good things about nonfiction stories.”

A similar passion motivated 18-year-old Kimel Hadden, whose entry in the high school category, “Building a City of Promise,” tells the story of Camden’s Christian-based youth outreach ministry, Urban Promise.

Hadden, who has spent five years working with Urban Promise, wanted to let others know about the work the organization does and to alter some of the negative stereotypes that exist about the city he calls home.

“I hope that views of Camden change,” he said of his goal in producing the documentary. “I want people to know that throughout the midst of confusion there are good things coming out of Camden, not just in Urban Promise but the kids that they deal with as well.”

One-of-a-Kind Experience
For young filmmakers like Hadden, the RE:IMAGE Film Festival was a rare opportunity to have their work shown to a large audience in a full-sized theater.

“Being on the big screen, as they say, I was nervous until the end because you don’t know what people are really thinking,” Hadden said. “It felt really good to see everyone’s reaction and to hear people say, ‘great job.’”

It was also a nerve-wracking day for first-time filmmakers Samm Bracey and Antonio Troia, members of the youth group in Our Lady of Mount Virgin Parish, Middlesex.

The 15-year-old Bracey, who said she has wanted to be a filmmaker since the age of eight, quickly penned a script for their entry, “Lord Hear Our Prayers,” upon learning about the film festival and the group produced the short drama in just a few short weeks to meet the festival’s deadline.

Bracey described the process as “intense” and said it was more difficult than she expected to write a story that was connected to her faith, but overall, the experience confirmed her desire to work in the movie business.

“I like all aspects of it; creating the whole thing, seeing how it all gets put together and then before you know it, it is on the big screen and everybody is watching it,” she said. “It is very exciting.”

While filmmakers such as Bracey and Gleason hope to one day make it in Hollywood, others take more personal satisfaction in simply producing their art and sharing it with an audience.

“I don’t think I’d ever want to hang my hat on filmmaking as a career,” said Hill.

“I love independent cinema, but I also love that people are passionate enough about it that they’re not working for the money,” he said. “We are doing it because we love it.”