Christian homeschooling before the lens: Controversial ‘Camp’
BevK August 28th, 2006
http://www.kansascity.com…nt/15353686.htm
In “Jesus Camp,” Christian kids spend their summer speaking in tongues, delivering fervent sermons and directing their prayers for an antiabortion Supreme Court at a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush.
The documentary, which focuses on three children from Missouri — including a then-10-year-old from the Kansas City area — opens here Sept. 15, and is shaping up as one of the fall’s most talked-about movies.
A little more than a year ago, Ewing and Grady, having completed “The Boys of Baraka” (about at-risk Baltimore kids sent to a “safe” school in Africa), decided to look at the phenomenon of homeschooling and Christian education. They found Fischer’s Web site and were invited by the minister to attend a children’s prayer conference at Christ Triumphant Church in Lee’s Summit.
“There were kids there from all over the country,” said Ewing (who describes herself as a lapsed Catholic) in a phone conversation from her home in New York City. “We chose our characters based on their devotion, their seriousness.”
The filmmakers spent time in Missouri with the children and their families (whose last names are not revealed). They filmed homeschooling sessions. Then they accompanied the youngsters to the North Dakota camp.
