keynote speakers

GRENVILLE KENT
Lecturer at Wesley Institute, filmmaker

Grenville Kent lectures in arts-theology and Old Testament at Wesley Institute, Sydney.  He has worked as a film-maker in documentaries and advertising, and has a MA in Film (UTS).  His PhD ( Manchester) applies film theory to Biblical narrative.  He is a besotted husband and proud father of three young children.

CONFERENCE ELECTIVE
• The Lost Happy Ending?  Plot shape as Worldview

Why the recent spate of “down ending” stories from Hollywood?  Traditionally, tragedies bombed in America, whose dream factory mass-produced stories of progress and the happy ending - cultural echoes of Judaeo-Christian theism.  By contrast, French audiences, after their culture’s centuries-long experiment with atheism, could watch a beautiful hero die senselessly in the rain and see profound statements.

Are Hollywood and its audience now coming to grips with the real implications of secularism?  Is this an opportunity for Christian dialogue?  And what of down-ending Biblical stories?

This session screens Grenville Kent's short film The Cross, and discusses the surrealist film  Un Chien andalou by Luis Buñuel (co-written by Salvador Dali), and Clint Eastwood's Million-Dollar Baby. 

register now! • Register securely online here using your credit card. • Download a pdf brochure here (coming soon). • Request one or more printed brochures (coming soon). pricing Early Bird (Before July 17) — $75 per day, $130 whole conference Group Early Bird (5 or more people) — $65 per day, $110 whole conference Normal Price (after July 17) — $85 per day, $145 whole conference Groups (5 or more people) — $75 per day, $130 whole conference Optional Dinner, Friday August 29 — $25 per person