By Heather J. Carlson
Sun Newspapers
(Created 11/14/02 9:08:53 AM)
By age 7, Jake Kindberg had already directed his first film: a staging of “Romeo and Juliet” starring himself and his sister.
“If we came up with an idea, we would make a movie of it and show our parents,” he said.
Nine years later, the Eastview High School junior is still making movies. His audience, however, has grown considerably.
Jake’s short film, “Inside Us All,” recently won the Excellence in Media Production award from the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). More than 400 students from around the world submitted entries to the film competition.
Jake traveled to AECT’s International Student Media Festival in Dallas, Texas Nov. 14 to accept his award.
What’s more, “Inside Us All” made its national debut at the festival.
Tyler Krebs, Jake’s multimedia teacher, said Jake has a talent for video production.
“You get a lot of students that come through the class that may have an idea of what they want to do, but they are not able to do it with the camera and editing,” Krebs said. Jake “is pretty talented at his age, being able to set up shots with the camera and edit.”
This budding director, Krebs added, also “has a very mature understanding at his age of how to create characters and how to develop the story.”
Although Jake said he strives to make his films entertaining, that isn’t the main goal of his work. Rather, it is to create Christian movies that appeal to secular audiences.
“Every film I make I want to bring glory to God,” he said. “I want to make movies for non-Christians to bring people to Christ.”
For instance, “Inside Us All” is based off a friend’s real-life struggle with depression. At a Christian retreat, Jake said his friend shared that he had decided to commit suicide after battling depression and drug addiction for two years. But at the last moment, his friend found God and decided to live.
Jake’s 13-minute film features a teenage boy writing a suicide note to his mother explaining why he has given up hope. But as the boy prepares to kill himself, a friend who recently became a Christian shares his story with the boy, convincing him not to commit suicide.
Jake has already written the script for his second short film.
The story centers on a convicted murderer seeking parole who is confronted by the brother of the victim.
Jake said the film grapples with the moral complexities surrounding revenge and forgiveness.
One day, Jake said, he hopes to become an innovative Christian filmmaker who produces quality, entertaining films that reach people from a variety of backgrounds.
“I think that the film industry has the biggest influence on people,” he said.
His favorite directors include M. Night Shyamalan and Steven Spielberg
Jake plans to spend his final two years of high school making more films He hopes to write and direct his first feature-length film this summer.
He is also a member of Lakeville’s Valley Lutheran Church.
After graduation, Jake wants to attend Abilene Christian University in Texas “just to start off right and make my faith as strong as it can be” before heading to Hollywood.
He adds, “There will always be a Christian message behind all my movies.”
