Introducing Deidox: God in Film

Last week I got connected with a new group based out of California who is striving to tell God stories through film and a very unique way. Catch a look at Deidox.com below and then read on to learn more about this great new work!

I had a chance to talk with Brent Gudgel, one half of the Deidox team, about some of the story of the group and what they hoped to see from Deidox in the coming years.

Tell me a little about your background - how did you got to this point (of launching Deidox) from where you’ve been the last several years?

I have been doing film/video work with non-profits for the last 8 years or so. It’s been mostly missions work, so a lot of travel has been involved. For the last 5 of those years I’ve been working with Dave (my producing partner). We were traveling so much we had to get extra pages in our passports. It was a blast. In the middle of this time we also did a feature film, Dear Francis, which ended up screening on tv. This was a big surprise for us because it was never planned. We were just two pastor’s kids who had a passion for storytelling and missions, and we felt blessed to be doing the work we were given. It was such an amazing thing hanging out with Christians in other cultures. It was so healthy for my faith. We were incredibly inspired and challenged by the Christians we met all over the world and how God was using them to do His work. These were the types of stories we wanted to hear and see on film, but as we looked around we couldn’t find any cinematic examples of them in an accessible format. So we prayed about it and decided maybe they were stories that we should try to tell. That was how Deidox came about.

Who’s in this with you/along for the ride? How did you team up?

Dave Mahanes is my producer and the co-owner of a production company with me (Chronicle Project). We met at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena while we were both working with the high school group there. That was in 2002. Because we were the two younger “film guys” in the church we started doing a few small projects together here and there. Those led to us doing a short documentary called “Hood Ranch”, and then “Dear Francis”. It’s been a fantastic partnership and we’ve been working together ever since.

How do you see film fitting into the storyboard of God’s Kingdom at this point and time?

I think film and media are important to God’s Kingdom because they are such influential mediums. The stories we hear shape the realities we live in. But there is such a lack of these types of cinematic true stories about the Kingdom of God. Instead we are bombarded with news about a failing economy, broken government, rising unemployment, and general increasing chaos. I think it’s important to be reminded that God is active, that He has a plan, and that we have a part we can play in that plan if we so choose.

What does the name Deidox mean? How did you come up with it?

“Dei” is latin for God and “Dox” is for documentaries. We’re trying to tell true stories of an active God, so the name Deidox seemed like a good fit. (Plus, Nooma and Purpose Driven were already taken.)

What is your heart for the future of Deidox? Where would you love to see God take it/use it?

The dream is to produce many more of the Deidox films. That would just be incredible. Dave and I are really passionate about telling these types of stories. The plan at this point is to start production on the next three Deidox films as soon as we can, but we’ll see what God’s plan is. Ultimately, it would be incredible to have a collection of Deidox stories that span the globe which when put side-by-side perhaps can give us a pretty interesting picture of how God is working in the world. But ultimately that’s up to God. We’ve just been trying to do our best on these first three films, and we’re praying that we can do more.

What’s fun too is that we want each Deidox film to be stylistically a little different than the others. All the stories of how God is working are going to be different, so we want the style to reflect that. We also want to bring other directors in to work on them eventually too.

You can learn more about Deidox and view/buy films in the series at Deidox.com. You can also follow Brent and Dave on Twitter: Brent Gudgel and Dave Mahanes.

Posted 02.12.2009

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