The 2008 Trail Dance Festival

JOEL'S JOURNEY WINS - BEST OKLAHOMA DOCUMENTARY!!!
Praise the Lord!! picture used from the TD website

Wow! What an event :) quite different from the Christian perspective of SAICFF. There were approx. 100-200 people in attendance for the award ceremonies and over 50% of the award recipients weren't even there...which cuts down on the excitement in the atmosphere.

This festival gives ratings (based off of MPAA criteria) for the films that it screens. Interestingly, out of 73 films screened, 27 were rated R, 31 rated PG-13, 13 rated PG and only 2 rated as G. Joel's Journey got rated as PG, probably because of the Christian theme and for the strong questioning of the medical community...I don't really know. Some of the films had reasons cited for the rating given, most common was 'Language' and 'Violence.'

5 of the documentaries were made in Oklahoma and 3 were nominated for "Best Oklahoma Documentary," the others ran in "Best Short Doc.," and "Best Feature Doc." Joel's Journey was up against...
-"Joined at the River" - PG-13 - (1hr 23 min) a film about the border between Mexico and TX (I think)
-"North of Austin, West of Nashville: Red Dirt Music" - R - (59 min) A gritty look at the home spun music genre that is Red Dirt. Produced by the Cameron University Summer Documentary Class. (from Lawton, OK)

Needless to say, based on the overall "flavor" that this festival seemed to lean toward we were very skeptical that we had much of a chance of winning at all, but dad reminded us that, "Miracles do still happen." Obviously, we were very pleasantly surprised to have Joel's Journey win its category. Miracles DO still happen!!

Here we are waiting for it all to get going!

Ropin' Cowboy

From left to right:
Anthony Foreman (Festival Director) - Daniel and Caleb Morris (Music compsers) - Yours Truly (holding the trophy) - Trail Dance Mascot (in her full costume)

THANKS EVERYONE!!
All Glory goes to God!! I would also like to say thanks, to those of the Morris crew who made the 2 hr trip down, to Caleb & Daniel for the immense amount of work they put into writing the wonderful soundtrack, to the whole Morris family for standing firm on Biblical principles of life, to my family who supported and helped out with the project, to the many people who provided feedback on the movie and also thanks to Anthony Foreman for all his hard work on the Festival, for selecting Joel's Journey into the festival and for honoring us with the award!!

Special thanks to dad for being the stand-in paparazzi for us :)
We used the video mode on a still camera to capture the winning announcement...see it here! (it may take a second to load)

Joel's Journey DVD

NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD!!

For more information visit: www.joelsjourneymovie.com

New Festival News

Ok, so the big news has been released.

Joel's Journey has been nominated for "Best Oklahoma Documentary" along with two other films in the Trail Dance Film Festival in Duncan, OK.

Read about it here.

Check out all the nominations.

Joel's Journey Website

Trail Dance OFFICIAL SELECTION

View the whole listings - here - they have some "interesting" films listed

Jubilee Award

The Jubilee Award

The Jubilee Award Winners
(from left to right)

- BEST BIBLICAL FAMILY -
Joel's Journey
John-Clay Burnett

- BEST OF FESTIVAL -
The Monstrous Regiment of Women
Colin Gunn & his brother

- BEST DOCUMENTARY -
A Cry from Iran
Joseph Hovsepian & his brother

- BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN -
Extinct
Marc Mattos

- BEST NARRATIVE -
Samaritan
Thomas Purifoy
(not pictured)

SAICFF pics

The Lila Cockrell Theater

Kevin Swanson presented the award for "Best Biblical Family"

Yours truly nervously giving a few remarks.
(me - Caleb - Daniel)

The three musketeers.

The Burnetts, Morrises, most of DCFM,
and a few other friends went to the Riverwalk to get ice cream
(Carinna - Me - Hannah)

~Pictures courtesy of Kayleen Personius~
visit the DCFM BLOG to see more pictures 

JUBILEE WINNER!

The “Best Biblical Family” Award went to Joel’s Journey, a thirty-three minute documentary that explores the real-life health crisis that Morris family experienced when doctors insisted on removing life support from their ailing son.

“We wanted to make a thought-provoking film that caused people to think hard about life and death issues — to value the sanctity of life and consider complicated medical questions biblically,” noted John-Clay Burnett, the 21-year-old producer and director of Joel’s Journey. “In winning this award, our biggest hope is that the message gets out — that when families face medical emergencies, they will have hope and know how to respond.”

What others are saying about Joel's Journey:

"I pray that many more people will see Joel's Journey and be encouraged like I was."

"[Joel’s Journey] was the most loving video I have ever seen. It shows your love for your family, and your love for the Lord."

"Joel has touched our family's life in so many ways."

"I found this film to be God honoring, theologically sound, and professional. Every father, mother, son, and daughter should watch Joel's Journey."

DVDs will be available soon!