People close to the Vancouver area may wish to take opportunity to catch an awarding winning film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. This will be it’s last Canadian screening as it continues it US tour.

For the Bible Tells Me So by Daniel Karslake will have it’s second screening Sunday, Sep 30th 3:30pm at the Empire Granville 7 Theatre 2.

Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate?

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, Dan Karslake’s provocative, entertaining documentary brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible. As the film notes, most Christians live their lives today without feeling obliged to kill anyone who works on the Sabbath or eats shrimp (as a literal reading of scripture dictates).

Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families — including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson — we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard’s Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.

Another documentary creating a stir deals with another US social issue took 15 years to make. Critics and audiences that have seen Lake of Fire are stunned. The 2.5 hour black and white documentary by Tony Kaye (recently shown at The Toronto Film Festival) takes an unflinching and epic look at the years of the abortion debate in the US and people caught up in it. From a Toronto Film Festival viewer:

I think this documentary would be far more balanced if it were expanded into a TV miniseries. The theatrical version presents the logical arguments from both sides of this massive issue, but it also shows over an hour of the footage related to the violence committed by the most irrational anti-abortion individuals and organizations. In that way, it seemed to me that the most sensationalist, visceral footage was being left in the theatrical release to make it more entertaining.

And yet, there are incredible moments in the film that are not sensationalist, or unfair to the anti-abortion side. For example, the film begins at the Capitol Mall in 1993, with a peaceful protest of abortion, with participants sharing stores and speaking out. A male speaker was microphoned beautifully and we see and feel his genuine emotion, even if it seems irrational to supporters of abortion such as myself. (I should add that the sound in this movie is first-rate - voices in various mediums are captured beautifully, so much so, I was conscious of just how good the audio was). And another example of the film being fair to the anti-abortion side was showing us how a ministry in Dallas was able to befriend Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) and give her a happier life. It clearly shows how the pro-abortion side failed her. The “Jesus Freaks” didn’t snatch her away. The pro-abortion side let her go while we are all into ourselves celebrating the legalization of abortion. She was home alone, receiving death threats, afraid to go out. And who came to her aid? Not my side. Amazing how this film reveals that (there is a shot in this movie that just has to be seen to be believed - you will know it when you see it….it shows Norma McCorvey at her new job….pay attention, it is amazing).

The film ends with a real procedure performed on a woman in Minneapolis who is less than 10 weeks pregnant. We see everything, including the blob of tissue that is taken from her womb. But more important, we see a 5 minute shot of her, telling us how she is relieved and tired, but also saddened and in emotional pain. It brought the theater to tears, and I can see how people on both sides of the issue will find some vindication in that final shot. On one hand, the patient is clearly relieved and has no regrets. On the other hand, she is saddened because she has made a momentous decision to choose her life over the life of an unknown child (a ‘what if’). It is incredibly powerful film-making.

Lake of Fire opens October 3 in New York.