Filming

In the second semester of my tenth grade, my film project for bible class was a modernized version of the whole book of Acts. For the project, we provided several narrative changes that we though would provide more cohesion. We added demon characters to be nemeses that would also provide much of the exposition on the central action. Of course, these demons drank and smoked. In our one of our over-the-top celebrations of alcohol consumption we filmed the party that demons had upon hearing the news that Jesus was dead. Swigging tinted water from our favourite liqour bottles while cheering the death of Christ provided its own unique thrill.

Even more exciting was our depiction of Paul (the bible character, played by me) praying during his incarceration. My hearfelt prayers with my cellmate dripped with barely concealed contempt for the whole institution. We even raised our hands in that utterely evangelical motion of praise. If our chiding sarcasm was not detected, the viewer could always pause the film to see single frames of us raising our middle fingers to their religion.

In one of the build ups to filming, we grabbed some wine coolers from friend's house. These were real alcohol and they were tempting. Paul suggested we flip to decide if we should just drink them despite the risks. We flipped about ten times- all but one said we should drink. We did not have the courage to drink on that day but our resolve for sobriety was clearly crumbling.