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Movie Seeks To Inspire Faith

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By SUZANNE SCHMIDT

IN THE LOOP

Published: November 19, 2008

After a year of late nights and hard work, Wesley Chapel resident Christopher Rosario has finally finished his first feature-length film.

Even though he made the movie as a part of his thesis to graduate with a master's degree in media design management from the International Academy of Design and Technology, he also is hoping it will change people's lives.

"I want to show the movie to people and then see if it affects them," Rosario said. "I plan to give a qualitative questionnaire in order to gauge their response of the film. I am hoping after they see my movie they will look at tragedy in a different way. I hope they will not look at it as evil for evil sake, instead I hope they can see the good that can come of it."

The movie, "Within," is about a high school girl named Rebecca who loses her father in Iraq. She then starts using drugs as a way to deal with the pain. When she thinks she is at the bottom of the barrel, her mother is diagnosed with cancer. She turns to God to help her with her problems.

She then meets Daniel, who is about to create a Columbine-like nightmare at their school. Rebecca works to inspire Daniel to turn to God.

The part of Rebecca is played by Jaclyn Hicks, 25, of Palm Harbor. She said she thinks the film will help people.

"I feel like Christopher is probably speaking to a generation who we feel is kind of lost," Hicks said. "There is a lot of pain and suffering that people don't have to feel. God can comfort those who choose to go to him."

The movie is only the first of many Rosario plans on making with his production company, 7th Seal Productions. He said he wants to inspire others to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

"I was born again in 2004 when my father was going to lose his job," Rosario said. "At that point, my family started to pray. I sought Him earnestly and found direction. Before that I was floundering. I am hoping others will be saved and will seek a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is my goal to reach the audience that doesn't know Christ but are curious."

Rosario said the book, "Rachel's Tears," first sparked his idea for his movie. The book is about Rachel Joy Scott, one of the victims of the Columbine shootings and contains writings by her.

Since Rosario only had a budget of $10,000 to create the movie and most of that was spent on equipment, he said had to be really creative. All of his actors and his small crew were volunteers and the entire film was shot in black space.

"I did something similar to the black box theater movies that were shot in the 1970s," Rosario said. "I used a combination of black and light filming. The lighting on the character denotes the state of the character at the time so if a character stands in the light of God, they are literally lit up. Since everything is all dark, everything you do see is critical."

Rosario is finally ready for the world to see his movie, he said. He has entered the movie into a few film festivals and he is also looking for places to show the film, such as area churches. For more information, e-mail withinmovie@yahoo.com.

Reporter Suzanne M. Schmidt can be reached at (813) 948-4288 or sschmidt@mediageneral.com.

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