if you had like any food for your hair what would it be and why and how would you style it?
-Food for my hair, to put in my hair as like a product? -No. So your hair is food. -Oh, spaghetti. That's easy.
-Yeah, but that's the only one that's like not allowed because it's what everybody says.
When anyone says spaghetti we're like 'Oh, you're not cool. -OK, well. Glad we're this off on the right foot.
Hi guys, we're back. Another Caffeinated Conversation. I'm Maria. -I'm Anthony -And today we're really
excited so we're just sitting just chillin at Ascension Press and Anthony's
in town. He's gonna tell us all about project he's working on, a collaborative
movie that he's putting together and then also this really cool new movement
called Catholic Creatives. So how did Catholic Creatives get started. What's the whole deal?
OK so I was hanging out with a lot of my friends and often recognizing that
one of the major themes in our conversations were just complaining
about how much we hated Catholic art and how cheesy it was, bad bulletins just
website, all of it and we decided that rather than just talking about that as
if there was never going to be a change that perhaps there really could be a way
that we could spark a new movement for better Catholic art and media in the
Church and so we invited a bunch of people to come together online to start
this discussion and then how to meetup where we invited people to bring a
six-pack of beers and a ugly church bulletin and that we're going to design,
sprint, and fix the issue. We got to the bulletin we're like okay we can we can
redesign this but that doesn't fix the problem like why is this problem really
here, right? We didn't start out to start a thing, it was just like we want a place
where we can actually be empowered to believe that something could change
about this issue in the Church, and a community of people that also feels the
same way. Like, I feel alone because I care about this thing and I feel like
the Church doesn't. So where's my place in the Church as a Catholic, as
an artist that cares about this stuff. -Yeah, why do you think this is all
happening right now at this time? -OK so we talked a little bit before and you're
talking about JPII and how awesome he was right and I think that honestly JPII when
he really started to put out Theology of the Body, our generation was raised with
a realization or a way to connect spiritual things to like bodily
experiences right, so like his letter to artists was just right on point with
that kind of like worldview and at least for me I can't really I don't know
answer to why everybody is doing it right now but at least for me those
times of learning the sacredness of the body put me in love with the world, and
made me made my artistic kind of center just burn and that turned into wanting
to make movies and write stories and write poetry, and I felt affirmed by Pope
John Paul II in that. I think that's part of why so many people were ready to let
go at the same time. -Yeah, I mean we were talking. I know I get frustrated
like yes I am a Millennial, but the way that term is used is so condescending.
Like, "Oh you're Millennials, like whatever," (eye roll), but I just really
appreciated that John Paul just like encouraged, 'No, it is by your very
youth ... that is an important necessity to the Church, and the
gifts and the things that you're interested in should actually ... the
Church needs those. They're not silly they're not stupid that you care about
design and you want things well done we really do have a lot to offer the Church.'
Because it's just been so dated and there hasn't been a need,
and we've had to be the champions of social media and the internet. It's not the
older generations, they're not the ones innovating. So we are, and because things
are different, I just feel like we have to pave the way but we're
getting made fun of as we do it. And I think it's neat what you're doing is Catholic
Creatives because it's doing the same thing. It's recognizing that
and it's saying like no look all these are good things and there are you know
freelancers across the United States and even beyond that have their talents like
OK, in what ways, whether you're working for
the Church or just professionally, can these be accessible to the Church
and like can we organize in some way, which is so cool to have that vision.
[jazz music playing]
-In finding each other there was just this outpouring of fruit,
of art and collaboration where people started working together or just being like
excited and called on by seeing each other's work and being like, "Wow these
Ascension guys are doing awesome stuff. I can total ... I'm so envious but then
like actually I could do that too, and all of a sudden you
just expect more from yourself by ... -Yeah there's a positive peer pressure there.
-I want to see real community happen right
that there's this sense of fruit doesn't come from just telling the Church, 'OK
you've got to be better and you're not doing good.' That's not what is going to
make anything change. It's accusational, right?
If there's real community and real friendships the Holy Spirit works
through that. Where two or more are gathered in my name, right? And anytime we've seen
great change and like a revival happen in the Church it's been through this
connectivity between saints who actually are all working together to help each
other to become more holy, and so what we want to see is a new renaissance happen
where the Church is again the leader in culture, and education, in arts, in
politics, in all of these different fields of life the way that it was back
in the Italian Renaissance, and we believe that's totally possible
because there's so much talent in the Church but also because when we create
community and actually collaborate together with each other and with the
Holy Spirit just amazing fruit can happen, and 8Beats I think is already
a proof in the pudding for that.
-Yeah, OK so tell me all about 8Beats. What is it and how do I get started?
-OK, 8Beats is a collaborative project where all of these different filmmakers,
artists, entrepreneurs, project managers, finance people, from across the US and
Canada are all coming together to film and make eight short movies about the
8 Beatitudes. Say about, inspired by; they're little like stories, they're short stories.
-And you're doing ... it's different teams for each different
Beatitude, right? How's that working? -Each region of the US is split into a team
where all of the people in that region have one Beatitude that they're all
working on and so everybody from that region just connects with the
director and the producer that is kind of risen to you know put their hat in
for that movie, and they create this little community of Catholic artists to one:
Get to know each other and actually be friends first.
-Yeah people that may not even have known each other right you're all still in the same area.
-Yeah and then I think one of the beautiful things about it is it you
have to come up with a story, and you know you're not gonna just like talk
about purity in an abstract way and get a really good story. You have to really
get into concrete details to share experiences that could be turned into
scenes and stories. And with the Beatitudes these are these are like
teachings of Christ that are very very palatable for people who are not
Christian; like they are messages of hope for people who are suffering.
-Yeah and they're the human experience -So for us like being able to
make these movies is also this evangelical way to put out into the
world in a way that's just deeply compassionate and emotive; a way I guess
stories that say to the world from God, 'We see you and we love you. We
love you who are struggling with lust or who are trapped in abusive relationships
or who are grieving. There's hope for you, so yeah.
-That's so cool, and to share that story is so important because the devil wants to isolate,
so you'll feel like oh I'm alone in this, and everyone else
is a goody-two-shoes and never has this experience, but if you can kind of put
that out there as a common experience then it helps and it relates to the viewer.
-OK cool, so if people do want to go and support it and check it out where they go?
-They go to 8beatsmovie.com or you can just google 8beats movie
IndieGoGo and find our IndieGoGo campaign there.
-Awesome, so make sure you guys check them out and please don't forget to like and subscribe to us on
YouTube, Ascension Presents. That's all we got for you today. I just spilled this.
Cheers
Should we redo that closing? I like spilled all over.
-How do I take my coffee? -Do you want to tell them the truth? -Uh, I drink tea. I don't drink coffee.
I put coconut oil in it with honey. -I'm drinking decaf so the secret's out. -Oh my gosh
-It's not a caffeinated decaffeinated. -I'm so disillusioned right now.
All right get out of here. -Get out of here. -Get out go home, crazy kids.