Craig Detweiler is a U.S. author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, filmmaker and cultural commentator resident in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, CA, who is employed as an associate professor of Communication at Pepperdine University

Pepperdine University

Pepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of...

 in Malibu, California.

Early life and career

Detweiler grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...

  He is a Phi Beta Kappa

Phi Beta Kappa Society

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...

 graduate from Davidson College

Davidson College

Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...

 with a B.A. in English. He went on to receive a M.F.A. from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema/TV. Later he received an M. Div and Ph.D in Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary

Fuller Theological Seminary

Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...

. He served as Associate Professor and Chair of the Mass Communication Department at Biola University

Biola University

Biola University is a private, evangelical Christian, liberal arts university located near Los Angeles. Biola's main campus is in La Mirada in Los Angeles County, California. In addition, the university has several satellite campuses in Chino Hills, Inglewood, San Diego, and Laguna Hills.-...

 in La Mirada, California

La Mirada, California

La Mirada is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities. The population was 48,527 at the 2010 census, up from 46,783 at the 2000 census....

.

Screenplays

As a screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

, he has written over ten feature-length screenplays including The Duke

The Duke (film)

The Duke is a 1999 film. Its plot cocerns a dog, Hubert, inheriting an English country mansion.-Plot:When the kind hearted duke of the manor dies, he leaves his estate to his Black and Tan Coonhound, Hubert, with Charlotte the Butler's niece as his guardian...

(1999) for Buena Vista and the road trip

Road trip

A road trip is any journey taken on roads, regardless of stops en route. Typically, road trips are long distances traveled by automobile.-Pre-automobile road trips:...

 comedy Extreme Days

Extreme Days

Extreme Days is a 2001 Christian-based comedy romance film about four boys on a roadtrip that they have been planning their whole lives. Their dreams are to participate in many extreme sports, but they are stopped short due to many circumstances.-Plot:...

(2001). In 1996, he directed a documentary, Williams Syndrome: A Highly Musical Species which premiered at the Boston Film Festival

Boston Film Festival

Boston Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Boston in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It has been held annually since 1984, usually in early September....

.

Books

Detweiler's first book, co-written with Barry Taylor, was A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture, dealing with relationships between advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

, movies, music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, TV

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 and the divine. This was followed by Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century (2008), discussing films including: Memento

Memento

A memento is a keepsake or souvenir of remembrance.Memento may also refer to:* Memento , a 2000 feature-length film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Guy Pearce* Memento , a Czech book written by Radek John...

, onnie Darko]], Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 American romantic science fiction film about an estranged couple who have each other erased from their memories, scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by the French director, Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction, psychological...

, The Lord of The Rings

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...

and Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. The road movie's plot follows a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant.Little Miss Sunshine was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer...

from a social, cultural, and theological perspective. A Purple State of Mind: Finding Middle Ground in a Divided Culture is a companion piece to his documentary

Documentary

A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

 film Purple State of Mind. He has also edited a collection of essays, Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God.

Films

In 2008, Detweiler produced and directed a documentary, Purple State of Mind which explores the blue state/red state tension in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Selected works

• Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God, editor, Westminster John Knox, 2010
• Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century, Baker Academic, 2008
• A Purple State of Mind: Finding Middle Ground in a Divided Culture, Conversant Life, 2008
• A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture, co-written with Barry Taylor, Baker Academic, 2003
• "The Wire: Playing the Game" in Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion, Diane Winston
  Diane Winston (professor)
  Diane Winston is a professor of Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, and an author. USC lists her current research interests as media coverage of Islam, religion and new media, and the place of religion in American...
  
  , editor, Baylor University Press, 2009
• "Christianity and Film" in Routledge Companion to Religion and Film, John Lyden, editor, 2009

Performances

• Producer, The City of Angels Film Festival, Directors Guild of America, West Hollywood, CA, 2009–2010
• "From Adam to Sin Nombre," The Windrider Forum, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, January 23, 2009
• ABC News' Nightline, "Faith Matters," December 4, 2008
• "Reel Spirituality: Finding God in the Dark," Seaver College, Fall Graduate Colloquium, Pepperdine University, October 28, 2008
• Film Festival Programmer, "Reel Lives: The Cancer Chronicles," World Cancer Congress, Geneva, Switzerland, August 2008
• "Seeing the Sacred in Contemporary Cinema," International Arts Movement, New York City, February 28, 2008
• "When Hollywood Meets Religion: Is There Common Ground?" A Jewish-Christian dialogue with David Kauffman, Hebrew Union College, Jeff Astrof, producer of • "The New Adventures of Old Christine", Fuller Theological Seminary, January 17, 2008
• "Theology and Film Reconsidered: Re-Framing the Discipline" at the American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA, November 2007
• Dr. James and Hazel Grant Presidential Lectureship Series, "Finding God in Pop Culture," Simpson University, Redding, CA, November 2007
• "Filmmaking and Social Change," WindRider Forum, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, July 2007
• "Amazing Grace: The William Wilberforce Story," interviewing Senator Sam Brownback, producers Ken Wales, David Hunt, and Patricia Heaton, Crest Theater, Los Angeles, February 2007
• "Munich," with Dr. Michael Berenbaum of the University of Judaism at Reel Spirituality Conference, Directors Guild of America, October 2006
• "Lived Religion and the Television Drama," Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, September 2006
• CNN, The Situation Room, "Da Vinci Controversy," May 17, 2006
• "Significant Conversations," Plenary Address, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, Dallas, TX, March 31, 2006
• CNN, Paula Zahn Now, "Hollywood and Religion," March 26, 2006
• "Retrenchment of Resurrection? Hollywood and the Religious Community after 'The Passion'," Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, April 2005

Affiliations and awards

• Phi Beta Kappa
• Senior Fellow, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, 2004–2006
• American Academy of Religion, "Religion, Film and Visual Group," steering committee, 2007–2009
• Audience Award, "Purple State of Mind," Tallahassee Film Festival, 2009
• Best Spiritual Film, "Purple State of Mind," Breckenridge Festival of Film, 2008
• Finalist, Book of the Year, Into the Dark, Collide Magazine, 2008
• Finalist, Gold Medallion in Theology, A Matrix of Meanings, 2004
• Cine Golden Eagle, "Williams Syndrome", 1996
• Silver Award, Feature Documentary, "Williams Syndrome," WorldFest Charleston, 1996
• Crystal Heart Award, "Williams Syndrome," Heartland Film Festival, 1996

External links

• http://www.priddybrothers.com/films/purplestateofmind/
• http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/default.htm?faculty=craig_detweiler
• http://www.mcom.biola.edu/aboutus/facultystaff/craigdetweiler.html
• http://www.pepperdine.edu/pr/releases/2009/april/craig-detweiler.htm
• http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n2003-104232
• http://janariess.typepad.com/reviews/2010/02/how--did-you-get-the-idea-for-halos-avatars-and-why-do-you-think-the-book-is--important--------m.html
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0221967/
• http://www.linkedin.com/pub/craig-detweiler/4/178/51b
• http://www.purplestateofmind.com/about.php
• http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n2003-10423