True/False Films

Audience of One
Dir. Michael Jacobs; 2007; 88 min.
Thursday, Feb. 28 / 9:00PM / Windsor Cinema
Saturday, Mar. 1 / 3:00PM / Forrest Theater

In person: director Michael Jacobs.

Arguably, the leap from Pentecostal preacher to film producer (or vice versa) is not a big one. In either job, one needs a vision to rally the troops around, the drive to continue even when all seems lost and the faith that all the hardships will be worth it in the end. These beliefs existed in Richard Gazowsky, so, when God told him to make a $100 million sci-fi epic, he heeded the call. What followed, expertly documented by director Michael Jacobs, is a story of stupendous ambition, staggering inexperience and, ultimately, the sort of faith that few of us can muster for anything, much less a divinely ordained feature film. Audience of One could have gone so wrong, devolving into an exercise in winking and nudging. But director Jacobs has a clear fondness for Richard and is willing to let the story unfold in all its convoluted glory. In the end, whether Gazowsky's "Star Wars meets The Ten Commandments" is ever completed becomes secondary to his internal struggle to follow the will of his Lord. (DW)