About Us
WHY ARE WE MAKING THIS FILM? Stephen Eyer and Daneen Akers were raised in the Adventist church, attended Adventist schools, and ate their share of While they have spent years trying to figure out how they relate to Adventism as adults, they do realize that the Adventist church is a part of their story. They are who they are and where they are in no small part because of Adventism, sometimes if even just in reaction to it. Three days out of five they tell themselves that they're Adventists until “they” decide to kick us out. And while they're around, they may as well try to effect some change. They love how Rachel Naomi Remen talks about the concept of embracing our stories, our pasts, even our disabilities because that is the small corner of the world where our lives and our experiences might bring some healing. With that hope, they started this documentary because they want to bring a measure of empathy and compassion to a conversation that is often abstract and purely theological. Living in San Francisco has changed them because they go to an open and inclusive church. It’s also a small church, so they’ve had an opportunity to really get to know people (and be known in return) by people who might not have ever felt welcome in a traditional church. Some of these individuals are gay. And last election season, when the full ugliness of the fight over Prop 8 (the constitutional amendment that denied same-sex couples the right to marry) was unleashed, they saw the fear-filled ads and read the hate-filled emails through different eyes. A lot of the fear drew on religious foundations, and they felt, as people of faith, like there was much injustice done in their name. It seemed clear to them that the conversation (which at times could hardly be called a conversation) needed a dose of what only stories can bring. When you’ve looked deeply into someone’s eyes and listened to their pain, you can never think about a situation in quite the same way again. BIOS Daneen and Stephen have been working together on projects since they met in college 15 years ago. Their first feature-length documentary, Living With Fibromyalgia: A Journey of Hope and Understanding, examines the challenges of living with debilitating chronic pain in a culture that values achievement and physical perfection. That film has been screened on every continent except Antarctica and received the 2008 Communicator Award of Excellence, the Platinum Remi Award at the Houston Worldfest International Film Festival, and the National Health Information Gold Award. When she isn't running around after their 23-month old daughter, Daneen is currently finishing her M.A. in English at San Francisco State University, producing Seventh-Gay Adventists, and trying to find moments to write. She strives to find and tell authentic stories that foster an awareness of our shared humanity and reinforce our connections to each other. Stephen has worked on numerous film productions in a variety of roles (producer, sound designer, editor, production office coordinator, camera operator), and he finds all aspects of filmmaking both artistically and technically rewarding. Stephen recently taught film at Pacific Union College in the Napa Valley for several years, but is currently focusing on producing independent films that look at spirituality and our search for connection and meaning. In addition to documentary filmmaking, Stephen enjoys working on short films and recently won the Best of Fest award in the San Francisco-based Scary Cow Film Co-op for Echo’s Wonder, a short film he co-produced. Along with Daneen, he co-directed and produced the 2006 feature-length documentary, Living With Fibromyalgia. Daneen and Stephen recently helped organized an activism campaign called “Adventists Against Prop 8” in response to the fear tactics being used within churches to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. This film is the outgrowth of that project and the stories they encountered. |
