A new documentary about Christian MMA fighters who don’t “turn the other check” is raising money on Kickstarter and their campaign has gained major press coverage. Garnering attention from Huffington Post, USA Today, and IndieWire, Fight Church is the promising collaboration between two emerging documentary film directors Daniel Junge and Bryan Storkel. The documentary chronicles the lives of pastors and Christians who participate in brutal MMA fighting.
From Kickstarter:
FIGHT CHURCH is a feature documentary about the confluence of Christianity and Mixed Martial Arts. The film follows several pastors and fighters in a quest to reconcile their faith with a sport that some consider violent and barbaric. Faith is tried and questions are raised. Can you really love your neighbor as yourself and then punch him in the face?
The ‘Fight Church’ project is seeking donors and is in need of more money during the post-production costs of the film. According to the Kickstarter page, additional expenses include spending $12,500 “to return to New York and various other states to film with our main character and additional characters. Without this footage, we won’t be able to tell the full story.” Also, an additional $17,500 is needed for “hir[ing] an editor and an assistant editor at a bare bones salary to work with us to shape the story. We have about half the film edited, but can’t finish without a budget.”
Co-director Daniel Junge spoke on streaming video on the KickStarter page about how his documentary experience has prepared him to tackle such a controversial topic.
“My previous work demonstrates that I’m able to tackle thorny subject matters like this one in a very even handed way that allows audiences to draw their own conclusions,” Junge said, “We know its provocative subject matter.”
This February, Junge won an Academy Award for directing the short doc Saving Face about Afghan women who had reconstructive surgery after surviving facial acid attacks. In 2011, Storkel traveled the country’s film festival circuit to promote his documentary Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians, which won numerous Festival Awards as well as $10,000 for a contest sponsored by the Archlight Theater in Los Angeles in November. Holy Rollers successfully debuted in VOD format this past March.
Any documentary loving cinephile who watched their previous works should be eagerly anticipating a Junge/Storkel collaboration. Junge’s Saving Face was the emotional gut-wrenching doc, which showcased the horror of Afghan women who had their face scarred from acid attacks. The documentary didn’t shy away from the brutality of the crime and the hope these women had to live a new life thanks to the work of a plastic surgeon. Storkel’s Holy Rollers was a fascinating exploration of the high stakes game, which plagued ‘the Church Team’ who count cards in Casinos. The viewer becomes engrossed with every Casino trip rooting for them to succeed and not get caught. The amusing and captivating film is an unorthodox story worth watching.
Kickstarter has been successful to launch projects in the faith-based community including saving the movie adaptation of Blue Like Jazz and bringing about a reunion album for Christian band Five Iron Frenzy.
Storkel hopes audiences from his previous films and new found fans respond to the online money raising campaign.
“We are very excited that so many people have supported the project so far on Kickstarter and we are getting close to our goal!” said Storkel via email. “It is amazing to be able to collaborate with our Kickstarter backers (our audience) to make this film a reality. Without these supporters, the film might not get made.”
Fight Church KickStarter Page:
