Blogging about my new film

So, I'm Chris Hansen, a filmmaker in Texas. The feature I shot last summer is still in post but it out to festivals now: The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah.

The film is a mock documentary about "Brian B.," a guy who thinks he's a messiah. He doesn't think he's THE messiah, but rather a local, regional messiah for his own hometown. The film follows his quest to determine his God-given 'special purpose' in life (which he believes he'll find by holding a big 'messiah rally' at the local civic center). Of course, he'll need to raise a little money to rent the civic center, and the film chronicles his efforts.

It was shot over a three-week shooting period (18 shooting days) in Waco, Texas (and yes, I'm aware of the irony of shooting a film about a guy who thinks he's a messiah in WACO). We shot on HD, with two actors from New York (Dustin Olson and Ellen Dolan) and one from Mississippi (Joseph Frost). Dustin and Ellen are also in a short film that just got into Tribeca (After June).

I teach production and screenwriting at Baylor University (Dept of Comm Studies), so we used about 30 students from our program as crew members, and we hired a professional DP and sound recordist (and the producer was a pro, too).

So, check out the website, and you'll hopefully be seeing the film soon at a festival near you.

There are also some reviews to read:

Film Threat
Chuck Tryon (the chutry experiment)
Sujewa Ekayanake (Filmmaking for the Poor)

And I'm also blogging at a group blog called Indie Features 06, so check that out as well.