Lynchburg film-makers producing documentary on faith

By Aimee Norton

Published: March 20, 2008

The film “Supersize Me Too” brought National attention to filmmakers Chris Townsend and Chris Acorn.  Their latest collaboration will move from fast food to faith.

“We shot ‘'Supersize Me Too’, it was a lot of fun to do, but it didn’t really have a lot of substance either,“ said Townsend, owner of Fan Productions, LLC.

So now they’re hearing confessions.  Volunteers sit in front of a camera, answering one of two questions: How did God change your life or How do you want God to change your life?

Townsend says the confessions are open to people of any faith. They plan to travel around the country with a confessional booth, recording stories from anyone who wants to talk.
“The idea was to go around and capture the emotion and the experience of individuals around the U.S.,“ said Acorn.

Filming started in Lynchburg on Thursday. John Harney was one of the first volunteers.

“Everybody’s looking for something. To have a film that through reality actually deals with that subject, with real people…whether they find the Christian God or whether they start on some type of journey in their life…it’s an amazing thing that can happen,“ said Harney.
“They’re so many different faiths. There’s people out there that don’t have any faith.  I want to find out what those people think,“ Acorn said.

Townsend and Acorn will spend seven months collecting stories on the cross-country confessional. Fifeteen to twnety of them will be chosen for the film.