Dispatch 04
Welcome to The Strata, a bi-weekly newsletter that tells a serialized story about my filmmaking process and updates you on the Impact Campaign for my first feature film.
The following is a continuation of Dispatch 03, which ended with:
I am visiting the Ark Encounter, a creationist theme park whose prime attraction is a stadium-sized Noah’s Ark. I am here asking visiting dads what they talk to their grown kids about — especially if those kids are no longer believers.
Dispatch 04: You’ll be Judged, and I’ll be Damned
A peculiar numerical logic permeates just about everything at the Ark Encounter theme park. Its grand opening on July 7 corresponds to Genesis 7:7, the Bible verse in which God told Noah to board the boat that would save him. It has one entrance, also per God (though, per Kentucky fire code, multiple exits). Its dioramas of life on the Ark resemble natural history museum displays, except these ones include dinosaurs, which, according to Answers in Genesis, were mostly dog or sheep-sized, thus they fit easily alongside all the other animals.
All of this made sense to me when I was a kid because my dad made creationism seem as simple as basic math. Similarly, the dads I meet here are happy to explain things to me. I am surprised to find them lovely to talk to.
I’m wearing my required Media badge — a lib tell — but when I explain that I’m no longer Christian but hoping to reconnect to my dad, I don’t feel judged. All we have to do is agree to disagree. Then we just…move on. We keep talking about other stuff.
Weird.
I have an especially delightful convo with one dad who is in recovery. He tells me his life was saved when he realized, on a bender, that if he bit it, he’d go straight to hell. He got clean and turned his life around, but his daughters won’t give him the time of day. I feel immense tenderness toward this man – he is soft and joyful, full of spirit. I find myself thinking, Man! Why won’t his daughters talk to him?
But I have no idea what it is like to be this man’s child. Maybe the daughters needed a break from him.
I spend the rest of the afternoon filming the girls I see here. They are enthralled, but I wonder: What on earth will they believe when they are my age?
I have one interview with a museum staff member, Dr. Terry Mortenson. He got his PhD in the history of geology to try to understand why all of science bought into deep time and Darwinian evolution. As we talk, I sense a familiar discomfort: that, as a woman, I’m not even supposed to be here, asking questions, which are blasphemous and potentially a sign of demonic forces at play.
“I think you know there’s a God,” he says. You’re just not listening to him.”
“Why can’t we both be right?” I want to know.
“Because two plus two cannot equal five,” he explains.
“A person who believes two plus two equals five might feel judged by you,” I say.
“I think you judge your dad.”
This is no longer fun.
I go back to the Bible Days dioramas and look for more dads who don’t have terminal degrees and who aren’t on the payroll.
That’s when I meet Melvin. He doesn’t explain anything; he just listens. He tells me he wants to give me something.
I follow him out to the parking lot, where we stop at a banged-up white sedan with Michigan plates. “It took me 10 hours to drive here!” he announces gleefully, digging through piles of paper bits. He beams when he finds what he’s been looking for.
It’s a DVD. Melvin has burned it and written the title on its paper sheath:
THE ATHEIST DELUSION.
“Wow,” I say. “Thank you so much.”
“I tried to give this to my son, but he won’t watch,” he tells me. “He doesn’t pick up the phone anymore.”
I promise to watch it.
“You made my day,” Melvin says. He gives me the sweetest, most gingerly pat-hug imaginable, then drives off, waving. I can hear the God rock starting to blare as I wave back, tears tracking annoyingly down my cheeks.
I get the message. There in the parking lot, I pick up my phone and call my father.
To be continued in the next dispatch.
Impact Campaign
“Flood made me laugh, roll my eyes, sigh in solidarity, and even cry. I viscerally felt all the moments.”
- Sarah Carr, CFP, CFT
Board President, Reclamation Collective
We are delighted to be partnering with Reclamation Collective, an organization dedicated to holding space for religious trauma. They offer virtual support groups for those navigating deconstruction and reclamation on their healing trajectory and a network of therapists experienced in working with religious trauma.
Our conversation with Sarah and Executive Director, Kayla Felten, inspired us to broaden the initial mission of our Impact Campaign from focusing exclusively on bridging divides to holding space for healing. More details to come in future updates about screenings and events in partnership with Reclamation Collective!
Our Impact Campaign is continually connecting with communities working in the following areas:
Family estrangement
Religious divides, including faith-based v. scientific worldviews
The Bridging Community, which targets political polarization and aims to strengthen civic life
If you or someone you know is working in these areas, reach out to Adam Blackman, Impact Producer, here.
ANDREW MONTANA is an NPR Tiny Desk Finalist!
A graduating high school senior in Flood, he is all growed up and hustling like a beast and making such beautiful music.
Vote before the stroke of midnight on SUNDAY, APRIL 26. Check out “Horse,” which got him the finalist nom:
SAVE THE DATE — Flood Premieres Theatrically in NYC in June!
DCTV - NYC theatrical premiere - June 10-25. June 19 will have a VERY SPECIAL GUEST moderating our Q&A. Please stay tuned.
Jacob Burns Film Center - June 23!!!
PBS Has a YouTube Channel
Don’t miss my brilliant friend Raúl O. Paz Prastana’s film Backside, which you can watch for free, right now, all over the US & Puerto Rico!
Flood will also premiere on Independent Lens — our premiere date is July 13.