The Imago Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in the state of Illinois, United States. It is usually in April on the Judson University campus. The mission statement indicates: "The Imago Film Festival showcases independent film that deals with faith issues, emphasizing image and story. The festival films capture the full spectrum of human emotion, experience, and spirituality."
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History
The Imago Film Festival was developed in 2005 to showcase films made by students at Judson University. Impressed by the reception of the one-night event, professors Dr. Terrence Wandtke and Darren Wilson expanded the festival to a five-day event in 2006 and invited submissions from outside the school.
The festival explores the connections between faith and film. In addition to screening independent short films from around the world, the festival features critics and filmmakers discussing the intersections of art, culture, and religion. The festival is supported by individual donors, corporate sponsors, and the Judson Student Organization.
Speakers have included: Jim Wall, senior corresponding editor of The Christian Century (2006); Phil Vischer, creator of Veggie Tales and Robert K. Johnston, author of Reel Spirituality (2007); Stephen Vidano, director of Star of Bethlehem and David Dark, author of The Sacredness of Questioning Everything (2008); David McFadzean, creator of Home Improvement and William Romanowski, author of Eyes Wide Open (2009); Darren Wilson, director of Furious Love and Gaye Williams Ortiz, author of Theology and Film (2010); David Nixon, producer/director of To Write Love on Her Arms and Jeffrey Overstreet, author of Through a Screen Darkly (2011); Brooks Douglass, writer of Heaven's Rain and Steve Taylor, producer/director of Blue Like Jazz (2012); Ralph Winter, producer of Star Trek and X-Men films and Dean Batali, writer for That '70s Show (2013); Ron Dean, actor in The Fugitive and The Dark Knight and Marshall Allman, actor in True Blood and Blue Like Jazz (2014); Doug Jones, actor in Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, and Falling Skies and Will Bakke, director of Believe Me (2015); Joshua Weigel, director of "The Butterfly Circus" and Matthew Luhn, story artist for Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Monsters, Inc. (2016).
The Imago Lifetime Achievement Award was inaugurated in the festival's tenth year to recognize filmmakers whose work contributes to the discussion of issues of faith and ethics. The award recipients have included: Martin Sheen (2014), Denzel Washington (2015), and Ralph Winter (2016).
Awards
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016