''For the Bible Tells Me So'' is a 2007 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Daniel G. Karslake about

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

and its perceived conflict with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, as well as various interpretations of what the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

says about

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

. The film premiered at the

2007 Sundance Film Festival The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007, in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was '' Chica ...

Overview

The film includes lengthy interview segments with several sets of religious parents (including former

House Majority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...

Dick Gephardt Richard Andrew Gephardt (; born January 31, 1941) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who served as a United States House of Representatives, United States Representative from Missouri from 1977 to 2005. A member of the Democratic ...

and his wife, Jane, and the parents of Bishop V. Gene Robinson) regarding their personal experiences raising homosexual children, and also interviews with those (adult) children. The film features an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

segment, "Is Homosexuality a Choice?", in which a summary of the then-current scientific theories about sexual orientation is given, such as

homosexual behavior in animals Various non-human animal species exhibit behavior that can be interpreted as homosexual or Bisexuality, bisexual. This may include same-sex Animal sexual behaviour, sexual activity, courtship, affection, pair bonding, and Homosexual parenting in ...

. It is directed by

Powerhouse Animation Studios Powerhouse Animation Studios, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in April 2001 with a subsidiary called Powerhouse Animation LLC, established in summer of 2014. The company develops and produces tradition ...

and narrated by

Don LaFontaine Donald Leroy LaFontaine (August 26, 1940 – September 1, 2008) was an American voice actor who recorded more than 5,000 film trailers and hundreds of thousands of television advertisements, network promotions, and video game trailers over four ...

in one of his last non-trailer narration roles.

People profiled in film

Gene Robinson Vicky Gene Robinson (born May 29, 1947) is a former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. Robinson was elected bishop coadjutor in 2003 and succeeded as bishop diocesan in March 2004. Before becoming bishop, he served as Canon to th ...

* Jake Reitan * Chrissy Gephardt *

Tonia Poteat Tonia C. Poteat is an American epidemiologist. She is an associate professor of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina where she focuses on HIV, having previously worked at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Early li ...

* Mary Lou Wallner

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator,

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, reported that the film received 98% positive reviews, based on 43 reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

reported the film had an average score of 73 out of 100, based on 11 reviews. Following its premiere in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, ''For the Bible Tells Me So'' went on to win several prestigious festival awards, including the Katherine Bryan Edwards Human Rights Prize at the

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema. The festival is a program of the Center for Documentary Studies, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) at Duke University. ...

, and the Best Documentary Audience Awards at the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

the

Provincetown International Film Festival The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) is an annual film festival founded in 1999 and held on Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The festival presents American and international narrative features, documentaries and short films f ...

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

, the

Milwaukee Film Festival The Milwaukee Film Festival is a public film festival held each spring from April 20th through May 4th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The festival is organized by Milwaukee Film, a cultural arts organization that operates Milwaukee's historic movie pal ...

, and many others. On November 19, 2007, ''For the Bible Tells Me So'' was named by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

as one of 15 films on its documentary feature

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

shortlist. However, it did not make the final list of five nominated films as announced on January 22, 2008.

References

External links

*
''For the Bible Tells Me So''
at

First Run Features First Run Features is an independent film distribution company based in New York City. History First Run was founded in 1979 by a group of filmmakers in order to advance the distribution of independent film. In the 1980s, the company focused ...

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:For The Bible Tells Me So 2007 films 2000s LGBT-related films 2007 documentary films American documentary films American films with live action and animation Documentary films about Christianity in the United States Documentary films about LGBT and Christianity 2007 LGBT-related films Films about conversion therapy First Run Features films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films Gay-related films Lesbian-related films Films about suicide Films about prejudice Films about anti-LGBT sentiment Documentary films about lesbians Documentary films about gay men