Audience of One (2007)

“In 1994, at age 40, Pastor Richard Gazowsky saw his first movie. Later that year, he received a vision from God.” So begins the saga of AUDIENCE OF ONE, a brilliant documentary that serves as a cultural Rosetta stone for our podcast, an intimate portrait of where faith in God meets faith in movies. It’s both a monument to the power of belief and a sobering testimony of how unchecked pride can poison spiritual authority. Director Michael Jacobs was given deep access to Gazowsky, his family, and his church (Voice of Pentecost, San Francisco). The film opens as the congregation-turned-film crew prepares their first feature. Having felt “called” by God to make a movie, Gazowsky appoints himself director and enlists family, parishioners, and a few hired outsiders despite no one having experience. Their ambitious project, GRAVITY: THE SHADOW OF JOSEPH, reimagines the biblical story of Joseph as a futuristic, Star Wars-inspired epic to be shot in Italy. Funded through church offerings, the production quickly spirals. Gazowsky secures favors and finances he can’t repay, including a $17,000-per-month studio he’s eventually evicted from. His leadership is strikingly confident, and he makes quick decisions and commands authority, but many are disastrous. He insists the film be shot on 70mm at 60 frames per second, a technically absurd and prohibitively expensive choice. In Italy, the crew manages to film only two incomplete, soundless scenes before the production collapses. Yet Gazowsky remains undeterred. In the film’s haunting conclusion, he preaches that his next plan is to create a company producing 47 films a year, alongside resorts, airlines, and a space program. Gazowsky’s faith seems consumed by ambition, though his audacity occasionally borders on genius. Still, his willingness to endanger and exploit his congregation, including children on unsafe sets, feels reckless and cruel. AUDIENCE OF ONE is an extreme but eye-opening look at faith-based film, where the movie is a powerful totem that allows the filmmaker to create an idol to both himself and God. In a roundabout way, it is an inspiring tale of faith, art, and the creative spirit.

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