UCC church in Michigan opens its doors to local college?s communication school

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

UCC church in Michigan opens its doors to local college?s 
communication s chool

> Written by staff reports
> August 24, 2010

Expanding its seven-year partnership with Grand Valley State
University, St. John?s United Church of Christ in Grand Rapids, Mich.,
opened its doors this summer to the university's School of 
Communication.

Scenes for "Horizontal Accidents," the summer film project of the
Allendale, Mich., school, were shot July 25 on location in St. John's
church building. Extras included members of St. John's and Plymouth
Congregational UCC in Grand Rapids.

Each summer, students in the GVSU Film and Video Production program
work with a professional director and cameraman to complete an
independent film. Tom Costillo's screenplay, selected from a
community-wide competition, is an adaptation of a short story by GVSU
student Michael Salisbury. Plymouth Congregational UCC member Kim
Roberts, a professor at GVSU, is the film's producer. The director is
Hollywood filmmaker Tom Seidman.

"Horizontal Accidents" captures a week in the life of the
bargain-basement Adamac Funeral Home and the two modern-day grave
robbers who work there: Boeve, the shady, charismatic assistant
manager who talks the bereaved into burying their loved ones with
precious (and pawnable) mementos; and Brandon, whose aimless life is
shaken when a suicide jumper drops square onto his car.

The dark, humorous tale of robbing the dead ? and rejoining the living
? will be entered in several national and international film
festivals. It is expected to premier in Grand Rapids next spring.

"We appreciate the opportunity to participate in the college
experience of these young men and women," says St. John's pastor Bill
Lyons. Each month St. John's purchases and distributes 5,000 pounds of
food free to Grand Rapids residents in need.  The students unload the
truck, assist mobility challenged clients, help elderly residents
return to their apartments, repackage bulk items and monitor the
distribution line.

For additional information see:

www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=151219&id=133717866664604#!/pages/Horiz
ontal-Accidents/133717866664604?v=wall  or
www.stjohnsuccgr.org/ReachingOut/tabid/43822/Default.aspx

Photos of the film project and the mobile food pantry are available 
on requ est.