Fascination Film Studio

08/03/2025

I saw miracles here. So what then should I do?

I’m writing from a plane via WiFi 20,000 feet over earth, about a place that doesn’t have running water or electricity.

There are two worlds.

Just as there are two worlds - this postmodern world of digital interconnectivity, AI and climate control and things like cinema cameras and documentary filmmakers; there is a world where people are still struggling for survival in much the same way that their people have done for generations.

Just as my eyes have seen those two worlds in the span of a day, I saw so clearly that there are also two very certain realities: a material, physical existence that can be explained by scientific understanding and an unseen world that defies it.

I have not made it a secret that I have a faith in God and that I believe miracles are possible.

Believing and seeing are so different that I still don’t have words for it, but as I find them I will share them with you.

I can say this: under that red roof that covers a cinder block building high in the rural Andes, just a few clicks off the Equator, I witnessed the restoration of sight. I saw a physical therapist sob when she felt a broken shoulder be healed under her hand - not by her professional training, but her prayers answered in the moment by Jesus. A man who came in dragging a limp leg, but who walked out, beaming through tears.

It is inexplicable in one way and perfectly explicable in another. This modern world as one reality, the timeless one as another.

One reality is superior to the other, that is clear.

I’ll have a film to show you, because having seen what I have seen, what now shall I do?

07/26/2025

Filmmaker problems. When you pay to upgrade for that window seat to get the arrival shot …

07/25/2025

I wish you could hear this photo.

(Someday you will: Film in progress.)

07/24/2025

Such an honor to be working on this project with Otis Lee Author

07/22/2025

"Your forefathers have not been able to see what you have done, but they planted the seedling."

Otis Lee Author in a long ago speech that still resonates today.

07/16/2025

There’s a fascinating story behind every door, but can you imagine the countless stories behind this one?

New England is different - houses that have been homes for centuries!

07/11/2025

When I started this Killing Kyle Orth project with Kyle Hunter I totally underestimated it.

Here’s what I imagined:

We’d shoot a trailer
THEN We’d raise funds
THEN We’d make a documentary
AFTER THAT We’d do screenings and ministry

But instead … what happened is that as soon as we had the trailer shot and started putting it out there to raise the funds, the other things started IMMEDIATELY.

It’s been a wild ride and we still have a long way to go but it’s been AMAZING! 🙌🏼

I’m typing this as we prep for Kyle to speak at the mission where he once came to find shelter after freezing in the January winter in Iowa. Released from prison with nowhere to go and only the clothes on his back, he met some special people here who are still part of his story today.

In just a few minutes we will record it as we document what God has done to transform one man’s life.

Have you seen this?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fascinationfilms/killing-kyle-orth

07/11/2025

Mark used to do what I do, before he ran an art gallery.

It was in those days when MiniDV was the standard. I remember a video buddy back then saying “I just don’t trust a silicon chip.”

Mark got to film some neat stuff back in the day, like the blast zone from a dolomite mine on an island in the Great Lakes.

If I ever get to make a documentary about him, it’s going to be a good one.

But that was not the assignment.

My job was to play tutor and get him back up to speed. A lot has changed about how we shoot, edit and publish video over these past 20-or-so years since he did it.

So: I got to help him point his camera at art and artists from here in the corn coast where we live.

If you like these beautiful things and sweet people, you’d have had to stop in and see him and Deb until now. And you still should. But now - if I was a good tutor - you’ll be able to follow along here and on YouTube too.

And maybe you’d like to: DKW Gallery and Studio.

There’s a fountain of creativity from us midwestern kids. It’s not the pretentious kind, but some is peculiar and some is pretty and it’s all, as we’d say around here, pretty good.

07/04/2025

Just a friendly Fourth of July suggestion from your filmmaker / family historian friend.

Record some in-between moments today. Not the posed stuff, but whoever you're with, whatever you're doing, turn the phone wide-ways (landscape) and record the people you're with doing what they do.

Unscripted, unnoticed. Grilling or splashing in the lake or reclining and smiling. Get close if you can. Closer is better.

You don't need a ton of stuff. You need a few stable, not-lots-of-zoom-and-pan steady hand clips.

Someday, you'll thank yourself.

Today, a few families who will gather will watch films about them. Documentaries. It will be part of a tradition for them, and it will mean so much. It will mean passing on fundamental information about their families. It will mean speaking blessing over one another. It will abound in love.

These things get better the more of those moments you've captured, so today - capture some, and someday you'll be glad you did.

07/01/2025

This isn't our documentary, but it's one I hope gets made.

It's on Kickstarter now, and they only have two weeks left.

The trailer is phenomenal.

The cause is essential.

We know that there are innocent people who are executed, we just don't know how many.

James Beatheard was one of the innocent ones.

Today a lawyer reached out to me - someone who's involved with this project. A person of faith, who asked her pastor, "What role does my faith play in this project?"

James came to know God during his time in prison, and it was his faith that helped him forgive and carry him through what would be unthinkable for most of us.

Check out the project and support it if you're moved to.

25 years after James Beathard's wrongful ex*****on, two human rights activists and a filmmaker join together to expose the truth.

06/27/2025

Philadelphia City Hall: his career was built here, and he nearly died here too. So we went back.

🔹 It stands at Center Square, it’s one of William Penn’s original five, an architectural masterpiece.

🔹 The statue of Penn atop the tower once marked the city’s highest point. It’s a symbolic lookout for virtue and inclusion.

🔹 Just blocks away, the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed, but liberty then was partial. People like Otis had to extend its reach.

🔹 Built by working people, City Hall reflects ideals of self-governance and enlightenment, not kings.

🔹 At 548 feet, it was once the tallest occupied building in the world, reflecting the bold ambition of a new kind of society.

But to Otis, City Hall isn’t just a landmark.

When he built his law practice in Philadelphia, he was here all the time - in the courts or the various offices.

And one day he didn’t feel well, but a client had a hearing. As he left the courtroom, he fell - he was having a massive heart attack. He was in his 40’s.

It was touch-and-go for a while, but Otis survived.

And so to tell his story, we went back.

Got access to the exact spot where things happened that day.

Recorded the story right there.

It was powerful!

Can’t wait to share it with you.
We have editing to do.

Maybe someday we can do something like this with you.

06/24/2025

Wrapping up what will become the most ambitious legacy film to date. You’re gonna love this story.