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Record Live is a conversation about life, spirituality and following Jesus in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The Hopeful_ an Adventist movie _Part 2_
Intro: [00:00:00] Hi there, everyone. I'm Jared. And I'm Zenita. We are your hosts of Record Live, a podcast where we talk about church, faith, and living well. We believe as followers of Jesus, faith is more than just a set of beliefs. It's a way of life, something we put into practice. Let's go live.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Here we are again, Zanita, we are together this week.
Zanita Fletcher: Crazy.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's great to have you in the office. for those that don't know, usually Zanita is working remotely and so we are always online. But today we get to be in the same room. Fancy
Zanita Fletcher: studio. In a fancy
Jarrod Stackelroth: studio. , this is the same spot I interviewed Kyle in, and we thought it might be fun to host this conversation from there. So we're going to play that in just a moment, but first, why are we talking [00:01:00] about this movie?
Zanita Fletcher: Well, for starters, we featured in our latest signs of the times issue. This is for August. so you can get your hands on that or check it out on our website. It features. A few articles, as well as the interview that you did with the director. But yeah, basically this is a movie about Adventist history. it will be screening in cinemas in Australia and New Zealand in October.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's a pretty epic that it's a movie about Adventists. It's a movie about our origins and our heritage, but it's going to be in mainstream cinemas.
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Now, it's a wide release. It can be as many cinemas as the demand is there for people to go and see it. , so that's exciting. This magazine is going to be floating around in August. It should already have reached your churches or your conferences at least. And we think, both Zanita and I work on signs, we think it's a great opportunity to hand it to someone you have a relationship with.
Jarrod Stackelroth: They can read about the movie, get a taste, get a sense of what the movie's about, hear from the director of the movie, and then it's your opportunity [00:02:00] to follow up what they thought and maybe invite them to see that movie with you if you're planning to see it. It's a great way to. Maybe ease them into the concept of going to see this movie with you.
Jarrod Stackelroth: , so that's like
Zanita Fletcher: me. I like reading reviews and things before the movie, if it's actually worth paying the money, but
Jarrod Stackelroth: that's right. And so that is an opportunity. This Signs magazine will be floating around and we printed a bunch of extra copies and many people have pre ordered them. So if you can get the Signs magazine, Hand it to a friend.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I think that's the best way to invite them to the movie, , because then they'll be somewhat familiar. They'll have read the review and it won't be completely like,
Zanita Fletcher: it's not like you're tricking,
Jarrod Stackelroth: flabbergasting, walking in, you know, they know what it's about. , and you can have that personal conversation with them.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So today we are going to play the rest of that, , interview with Kyle. Now, Zanita, you've seen some of those, , Clips as well
Zanita Fletcher: yeah. Kyle's a fun guy. It's got some awesome things to say about, not [00:03:00] just about the movie, but about storytelling, about faith. yeah. About whether we should buy popcorn from the cinemas or smuggle it in.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yeah. My particular favorite part of this conversation was getting into, the characters of Adventist history, like the individuals who are represented , on screen and what they might've been like, what we can learn from them. , so we'll get that up running for you guys. We hope you enjoy the second part of our conversation with Kyle Portbury.
Jarrod Stackelroth: , and as always, if you have any comments, any questions, chuck them in the chat, put them in the comments and we will, we will be here to answer. We will respond. So, , without further ado. Here is Kyle Portbrey, director of The Hopeful. As a theme, hope, why do we need hope in the world today? I could answer the question from like looking around the world, you know, people are struggling, but from your perspective,, this theme of hope, why is it so important to tell this story [00:04:00] now?
Kyle Portbury: I think the people, I'm going to look down the camera for this because the person on the other side watching this conversation doesn't need me to tell them that, right? They're smart enough to work that out. And I think that's, again, that's the value of storytelling for cinema is that , you're acknowledging that that audience, you guys are really intelligent.
Kyle Portbury: So you're going to go and you're going to have an experience with the hopeful. And you already know why the world needs hope. You don't need me to sit here and pontificate about it. Like it's very clear to us, and I think what engaging with stories that provoke and prompt you to think about who you are in the world and why our particular as Adventist worldview is very hopeful and healing in that hope and the role that you play when you walk out of the cinema, re inspired that.
Kyle Portbury: That taking that hope and healing out into your little area of the community might actually be a really good thing for the community, , I, [00:05:00] I would encourage people to put the onus on yourself, like you, you are smart and intelligent.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Well, what does hope mean to you then? If I reframe that slightly, because hope, I guess any word that we use has different definitions to different people, but does hope learn, like mean to you?
Jarrod Stackelroth: And what have you learned about hope in the process of telling this story?
Kyle Portbury: I think if you are genuine about wanting to have a relationship with another person, right? Like you, you're actually not. You've moved from it being transactional, , like I'm going out and I'm having this conversation or this relationship so I can get this thing back and I can go and tell somebody, Oh, look at the numbers, right.
Kyle Portbury: You know, whether it be box office or whatever it be, or even baptisms, dare I say, right?
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yeah.
Kyle Portbury: If you move it from transactional and you move it back into relational, and the most important thing about that is that the person that I'm in relationship. understands that I care [00:06:00] about them and understands that if they say, Hey Kyle, I need to tell you this in confidence, or I need a hand with this thing, right.
Kyle Portbury: Or Can I rely on you for X, Y, Z, , that that's not going to come with the, yes, you can. But first of all, read this handbill and go to church with me. Right. , I think that's where, , to me, hope lies. It's in that the relationship is more important than the transaction, and when you see the response that people give when you genuinely are interested in them and their life, Over what you're going to get out of that relationship, there, I think lies the hope and healing,, said hope to hope to me is relationship first, , get to know people become part of their life.
Kyle Portbury: That's the most important thing that you can do, because if you're part of their life, then you're a part of their life. simply being there is going to bring a hope that didn't currently exist. Unless you're a very negative person [00:07:00] and not very nice to be around, in which case you're probably not going to do that, but you're not that person.
Kyle Portbury: You're a very caring person. Thank you, Kyle. Well, I meant that in just general.
Jarrod Stackelroth: America is a very Christian nation in some ways. It's, , it's slated that way. People are a bit more comfortable or a bit more familiar with that Christian identity. Australia, New Zealand, not so much. We're sort of very post Christian, secular societies.
Jarrod Stackelroth: How do you think that will impact the way the movie's received here?
Kyle Portbury: Well, I think that depends on how you perceive storytelling, right? Like if you're going to the hopeful, expecting to be dictated to, then the impact's going to be negative, ? Right. And that, and my encouragement to people is go and see it.
Kyle Portbury: And see for yourself what it is first, , like go out and engage with it. Don't end game what you think it is, right? Like somebody said to me the other day, well, isn't this just tell the world [00:08:00] repackaged, no, actually it's not,, it's a very, very different story. And it's all well and good for me to say that,
Kyle Portbury: but you're not going to know that unless you go and watch it, so if you think, , what you're going into, my, my encouragement to you is We'll go and watch it and prove that. And if it isn't what you think it's going to be, well, that's going to be great too, isn't it?? Like, and also the other encouragement would be, even if you saw tell the world, the whole purpose of the hopeful is to create a cinema experience that it gives you the opportunity to engage with the community who never saw that in the first place anyway, right?
Kyle Portbury: That's just not something that they ever engaged with. It was never designed for cinema. That was not its purpose. And so now having this unique opportunity of a cinematic experience, which by the way, is going to be mainstream released in Australia, New Zealand, it's going to be on screens for at least a week.
Kyle Portbury: Right. Yeah. Multiple sessions a day in multiple [00:09:00] cinemas all around both countries. So, I mean, , it's going to be a very different experience and there's going to be a lot of visibility in both Australia and New Zealand, , what are not, what a golden opportunity to, again, go back to the beginning of this conversation where I was talking about being asked about aspects of my faith that shocked me because I've never been asked about my faith ever before.
Kyle Portbury: Hmm. You know, that's going to be interesting for people, suddenly realizing that there is an interest in some of these things that we thought people would have no interest in. I think getting that mindset shift and that change of, Oh, well, okay. So this thing that I do that I always thought was weird and quirky is actually appealing to somebody else who's never heard of it.
Kyle Portbury: Oh, well, okay. Mm. Mm. Especially if you're a lifelong Adventist, right? Like this is an easier equation I found talking to people that discovered Adventism later in life or became Christian later in life, right? Yep. It's easier to see how that transition happens for someone like me, who's been a [00:10:00] lifelong Adventist, well, you never arrived at a come to Jesus moment, right?
Kyle Portbury: You were born into it. And so suddenly being confronted with, Oh, well, this is, this is actually appealing to people outside of, you Like my immediate family, traditional upbringing, Oh, okay, interesting. And in these areas that I never thought would be interesting at all.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So if I am an Adventist, , which I am, surprise, what do I do with the film?
Jarrod Stackelroth: How do I engage with it? What's the best way to engage with this film?
Kyle Portbury: Well, I wouldn't say go and buy a ticket. When it goes on sale, like you would, , you go to the cinema and watch Oppenheimer. So go and buy a ticket like you normally would there. And then after you watch it, who are the three, four, five people from your sphere of influence who you think would benefit from coming back and going to see the movie with you and then take them out to eat [00:11:00] afterwards, ?
Kyle Portbury: It's also one of the very few films that are going to be on general cinema release this year in Australia and New Zealand that's actually truly a family movie. , you know, I would walk into cinemas in America and there would be everyone from the age of five to 95 plus in there together.
Kyle Portbury: And they all had a fabulous experience, but totally different. Right. So when you would talk to the five, six, seven year old kid or the 13 year old or the 18 year old or the 85 year old or the 40 year old, everyone's experience was slightly different. The things that they talked about were different, but they'd all enjoyed it collectively.
Kyle Portbury: And that's quite a unique thing in cinema today. Like there's very few, like I couldn't take my 11 year old son to Oppenheimer, you know, so I can only enjoy that film by myself essentially, , I can't take my kids to that. Whereas I can take my kids to The Hopeful and they're getting something completely different actually to what [00:12:00] I do out of it.
Kyle Portbury: My kids hadn't seen it for a year and they went to the premiere in Los Angeles a couple weeks back. And it was interesting because my daughter was like, I don't remember, enjoying it quite this much, daddy. And I'm like, huh, well that's very,, candid of you, because that means that the first time she watched it a year ago, , she remembers not enjoying it as much as she enjoyed it a year later, ?
Kyle Portbury: And so you kind of go, oh, wow, like that's, that's not her pandering to like oh, this is my dad's film and he made it. This is her actually discerning for herself. And when I asked her what it was, she said, oh, I really liked, , Lucy Miller. And I liked the way that she encouraged him, I liked the way that she spoke to him, and I also liked Ellen because of the way that she persevered and said, you're like, wow, I didn't, I never anticipated that my nine year old would engage with a film that was never designed for her in the first place, go figure,
Jarrod Stackelroth: So take the family, take your friends, make a whole day of it, make an event. Yeah, [00:13:00]
Kyle Portbury: and travel together. Because again, it's about relationship, right? It's about getting in community. It's an opportunity. So it's going to be weird for the guy that made the film to say, this isn't actually an opportunity to see a movie.
Kyle Portbury: It's an opportunity to hang out with people, right? That's the opportunity. And I think that's the more important thing than the film. The film is just the excuse. The actual opportunity and the value to you is the experience that you're going to have with the people that you take. So don't just go by yourself.
Kyle Portbury: That would be my encouragement.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Which character would you say you identified with and who was the hardest to portray in the movie? Yeah, yeah. Cause as you've said, some of these people have been built up in, in a sense, as often happens in religious traditions, . People become almost canonized. So , which one did you find yourself relating to and which one was hard to actually portray for whatever reason?[00:14:00]
Kyle Portbury: Well, I think it's fascinating that the two, those two are both women for a start. Right. So I relate more to Ellen's sister, Elizabeth, just in attitude. Right. Like I see in her. A cynicism and a natural sense of skeptical that I hold, right? And so I look at her response to these events. And I go, , it's probably a good thing that I wasn't in existence in this period of time.
Kyle Portbury: Because if I'd gone through that experience, I think I'd be her, where I'd be like, yeah, this is bogus. And I think it's healthy to recognize that, like, it's easy to go, oh yes, I would be the person that stuck with it and persevered to the end and, praise Jesus. I wouldn't be. Right. Right.
Kyle Portbury: And I, and I like the fact that I can be honest with myself about that. , and I think the flip side of that, Ellen, hugely hard character to do justice to as an actual human being, because she's been mythologized to the point now where she's almost [00:15:00] irrelevant. You know, so it was trying to work out how to give her an actual life back again, based on hard fact and reality.
Kyle Portbury: So like a lot of, a lot of the work I did originally, , the, it was great cause it's all, it's all sitting there in, in rushes to work with, but I had to reacquaint myself even in the edit at nighttime, I would go home and I'd reread correspondence just to double check. And I looked at the correspondence between her and her husband, or her and Bates, or her and whoever it was, right?
Kyle Portbury: These guys wrote lots of letters and they're all available to, to look at freely online, which is great. So you can work out who someone is by the way that they speak to other people. And so I would constantly double check that and go, Oh, okay. So yeah, it is legitimate to say that this person in this situation would respond like this.
Kyle Portbury: Okay. So as I'm sitting down in the edit suite and I'm looking at crafting that particular performance [00:16:00] in that scene or that moment or that sequence, Okay, I've got a really solid basis to go, I'm going to craft it in this direction because that's what I think is the closest to the person that I'm seeing in the written correspondence.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Right.
Kyle Portbury: You know? Yes. And so you're always trying to give them life. You know, and like, and for me, an audience member sitting there, you know, she's hard to give life to because we've almost sucked the life out of her. We have put on her either she can do no wrong or all she does is wrong,
Kyle Portbury: so there's these two polar camps now when it comes , to Ellen White in Adventism. What's fascinating when you talk to people who've never heard of her before and encounter her for the first time in The Hopeful, they're like, wow, there was a woman in the 1800s with agency who got listened to by men and her legacy is this?
Kyle Portbury: Yes. This woman's amazing. Right. And [00:17:00] so to see that response to it, you're like, man, we have really done this person a disservice historically as Adventists because , We have either made her so heavenly minded that she's no earthly good, or we've just gone, everything that she said and did was rubbish.
Kyle Portbury: Yep. So let's just chuck it out and don't look at it at all. I think the answer to, to relating to her and her role in modern day Adventism, It's somewhere in the middle of that, right? And choose your own adventure with it, right? Like where is she useful to you? She said herself many times, and I love that she did this, that she went, I am not the last word in Testament on anything,
Kyle Portbury: I'm just giving you a lesser light, which is a term she used often. I'm just giving you an insight, essentially, is what she's saying. Take it or leave it,. But don't make the mistake, and I think people in 2024 make the mistake of reading something that she [00:18:00] said to someone in the 1800s as gospel truth, , without looking at the context of the fact that she went.
Kyle Portbury: Specifically to that person. Right. Right. And it was a message for that person.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yes.
Kyle Portbury: So whatever you believe about her inspiration and what she said, don't read into her saying something to someone specifically as a word for you. Like if you can get something interesting out of that, great. Good for you.
Kyle Portbury: Like if that provokes thought and it challenges you, but that is not a mandate on your life. That was a mandate on that person's life. If they chose to buy into it, ? And so I think it's looking at her in the context for which she established for herself, , first and foremost. And then the value is in the person and the fruits of that person's life.
Kyle Portbury: And again, I come back to the fact that what she gravitated to was a very clear hope and healing character of Christ. When you look at her legacy down the line, say what you will about it. But there are a lot of good [00:19:00] hospitals that do a lot of good in the world. And there is a massive humanitarian agency that does a lot of good out in the world.
Kyle Portbury: Now that's not hope and healing and a legacy to, to go, okay, well there might be some value to it. Right? Then, , I'm open to being wrong about that.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Why would a non Christian person want to go see this film? It's about a Christian church. The start of. Some obscure to some people denomination that they haven't heard of before.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Why would they want to spend money? It's expensive in Australia to go see a film. It's expensive everywhere to go
Kyle Portbury: and watch a movie. Why
Jarrod Stackelroth: would they do that?
Kyle Portbury: , because it's good, it's good characters. And a good story, right? You don't have to be Adventist to enjoy a good story about good characters, right?
Kyle Portbury: All biopics function on, well, here's people and something they did that there's recognizable and relatable things in their character and the way that they respond to the world. And that's interesting, [00:20:00] right? Like it's interesting seeing how somebody else dealt with a big life change. That's why we go to the cinema.
Kyle Portbury: We want to see how other people dealt with things. And then we want to experience the emotional rollercoaster that they went on in the safety of a cinema seat with popcorn.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Living vicariously through those characters.
Kyle Portbury: So whilst you don't have to be looking forward to the soon return of Christ, you can be looking forward to, uh, the new car that you're potentially going to buy with the windfall that you're going to get from X, Y, Z, right?
Kyle Portbury: Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And when that doesn't happen, you're going to be like, Ooh, yeah, I recognize like that ugly crying in the field. Right? Like, cause that's what I did when that thing didn't pan out the way I thought that it, Oh, look at how they dealt with that. So I think it's in, in seeing how other people deal with the big issues and the big life experiences.
Kyle Portbury: The context is almost irrelevant, right? So for someone who doesn't have anything to do with [00:21:00] Christianity or Adventism, , it's no different to going and watching Oppenheimer, for instance. You're just getting an insight into someone's life. That you didn't know about. And I think that's the interest and people love period drama.
Kyle Portbury: Yep., a good costume drama with a grant and honestly, like the music in this, Blake Robinson, who did the score and Jonas Myron. So if you've ever listened to,, 10, 000 reasons or cornerstone, he wrote both of those with Matt Redman. , more recently, he's been working a lot with Andrea Bocelli.
Kyle Portbury: Wow. So a lot of Andrea Bocelli's most recent single releases have been written by Jonas. Uh, he just wrote an album for Mateo, , Andrea's son., he's been working with Lauren Daigle and Barbara Streisand and Celine Dion. So just just, and those songs are out now, actually, you can go, if you go to Spotify and just type in the hopeful movie soundtrack, it's already out.
Kyle Portbury: It got released with the U S release back in April, , and made for you. One of the two title tracks songs is [00:22:00] already out as well. So you can listen to both those. They're amazing. , absolutely world class storytelling in their own right on their own. So you will, you'll get a real sense of. place from Made For You, for instance, like , you'll listen to that and you'll go, Oh, wow.
Kyle Portbury: This is. This is speaking to me in a way, just as a song, like it's an incredible journey and experience in the three and a half minutes of the song. So go and check that out. It's on all the places you would find music now.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Great. Yeah., I forgot my question. I was thinking, after this, I should go listen to that song.
Jarrod Stackelroth: After this, I should go listen to
Kyle Portbury: that. Yeah.
Jarrod Stackelroth: That was definitely something I'm going to do. It's great. It goes on
Kyle Portbury: repeat in our car, just because it's on one of our playlists set up. Oh, okay. So it'll come on and The kids love it. Oh, kids love it.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yep. Yep.
Kyle Portbury: And they had, they had engaged with, I guess the value of your father being a filmmaker is that you get to meet people.
Kyle Portbury: random people all the time. So, when we were doing post production in Sydney in 2022, they came down, they got to see [00:23:00] things in the middle of creation. Right. That process part of the process. So they got to engage with Jonas and got to know him. And so they're already, I don't really listen to a lot of his back catalog.
Kyle Portbury: So it was interesting. So they'd already been listening to a lot of his songs. So they're just tracking now. He's like part of their playlist promotion.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Wow. Yeah. I remember my question as a director, how has this changed you making this movie, the story, the characters, and your outlook on life going forward, how has this
Kyle Portbury: process I think, I think it's fun creatively when you look at something you made 10 years ago for me now, right?
Kyle Portbury: Yeah. Like, so coming at that with fresh eyes. Was actually a lot of fun because you realize you're like, Oh, well, we, we got really great performances , in the camera and I, 10 years down the track, you're more mature creatively. You've just had a lot more [00:24:00] creative experiences in your life, but also just the way like you're 10 years older.
Kyle Portbury: So you just, your life experience and the way that you look at the world is different. So I looked then at those characters and those story beats. And the way that that story , could play out with a very different eye to how I would have 10 years ago. So it was a lot of fun because like, I would never, this film could not have been made anytime before we walked into the post house down in Sydney in August of 2020.
Kyle Portbury: So two years ago, almost, I, I didn't have the maturity to tell it this way back then. I also didn't have the industry connections, right? Like, so because you've done more stuff, right, you've now all of a sudden, , Jonas and I only met on a, , previous, , I was working in South Africa on Angel Studios, , David movie that's coming out next year.
Kyle Portbury: Oh, great, yeah. As one of, on the writing, one of , the lead writers on that. If you've seen the, there's five prequel [00:25:00] shorts, young David. I've seen some of the shorts, yeah, the kids. So I wrote those with Brent, the director as well, back a year and a bit ago. So Jonas and I met on that film. And so it's great because , you realize that, okay, this other creative collaborator has a very similar way of looking at, , rhythm and timing and how music functions in a story narrative.
Kyle Portbury: And so we really played, we got to play around with ways that, , music and dialogue and visual interact. That I never would have ever even tried 10 years ago, cause it would have been too afraid to, , again, it comes back to this failure thing. Like I've got really comfortable now with stuff not working out.
Kyle Portbury: Right. So it allowed me in this process to just try stuff and a lot of times it works and stuff that doesn't, you just go, Oh, , we'll try something else, try something else, you know, so. And I think , , maturity also allows you to be like, , this person [00:26:00] and their skills aren't a threat. , when you're younger, like almost you view the world as , well, if this person looks better than I do, what's that going to say about me?
Kyle Portbury: Right. You know, you get down, down the road a little bit and you kind of like, actually I'm pretty lucky to be getting to work with these incredible people and they make many more films a year than I do. So I'm kind of silly if I don't. Let's look at the options that they've got and how they're looking at this story , and the prompts that they give, and then , you go, okay, maybe that piece and maybe this bit, Ooh, and I really liked that offer.
Kyle Portbury: That's a great offer. Let's try that in the mix. And then all of a sudden something changes and you go down a completely different path than any of you would have gone down before. Yep. And you've got this beautiful film at the end of it. That's not like anything you imagined that it could have been, , and that I think that's been the learning for me is you just, you have to be fearless to tell stories without, , just let the story tell itself for you, , don't try [00:27:00] and force it into a, into a corner.
Kyle Portbury: Because , you're too afraid to let it tell you where it needs to go. , I think that was, the discovery for me is that it's, , the more you let it breathe, I don't even mean in time, just like kind of let that process guide you as to how that story should be told. Where is it resonating with people?
Kyle Portbury: You know, the majority, there was only two Adventists that ever worked on the post production of this.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yes.
Kyle Portbury: You know? Yeah. It's nice because you're getting constant feedback from people who are just looking at films in general. Yes. Like massive movies. Like a colorist did Elvis before he did the Hopeful.
Kyle Portbury: Yes. And straight after that, he was working on like George Miller movies. , most of our post team did fur, like two weeks after our final mix, they rolled onto the premix of furs. So you kind of, they're looking at things critically from a storytelling point of view, and when they're saying. This is really, [00:28:00] this is a really good movie, Kyle.
Kyle Portbury: Like we're really enjoying this. This is like, this is kind of like what our expectation is of cinema. You're like, Okay. Great. Yeah. You realize it's an Adventist story, right? That's fun because you're like, , you're able to go, okay, well, our stories are on par, right? Like they're as engaging to a general audience as anybody else's story.
Kyle Portbury: So why not tell them? Yeah.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I don't know if you can tell us, but what's next, , are you working on any other projects? Several.
Kyle Portbury: Yeah.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yeah. Can you tell us?
Kyle Portbury: Not, not many, but there is, there is one that's focused, I think, on just the way that forgiveness, , operates. Okay. and it, it's very, so it's a, it's a guess, a easiest way to articulate it is that it's a reverse revenge film.
Kyle Portbury: So you're going to, you're going to see all the same beats leading up to, like, it's. It's almost like what would happen if John [00:29:00] Wick wrestled with retribution and in the end, forgiveness was the answer instead of let's kill everybody and their dog. Wow. Yeah. So it's looking at that, at forgiveness through that lens, , which again is very recognizable that we all have those moments where we feel like justice needs to be served.
Kyle Portbury: Mm. Mm. And I guess forgiveness, if you really look hard at it, kind of says to us that justice being served is freeing yourself of the burden of needing justice. to be served in a way. So it, it's fascinating. And this is a, like a true story again. Yeah. Incredible one. I can't say too much about it and give too much away, but yeah, , it's currently being packaged , and hopefully we'll be filming next year.
Kyle Portbury: Excellent. Yeah.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Hey, thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me. It's been a pleasure, Jarrod. Yeah. It's been lovely to hear a bit of the background behind the story. Is there anything else you'd like to share, , to wrap up this conversation?
Kyle Portbury: No, just buy lots of popcorn, [00:30:00] because, there's no better way to enjoy a movie really than popcorn.
Kyle Portbury: Probably stay away from the Coke, because all that high fructose corn syrup is I
Jarrod Stackelroth: mean, caffeine does
Kyle Portbury: And they make fabulous coffees in gold class, I'm just saying. And they'll bring it out to you in the third sitting, so.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Very good..
Jarrod Stackelroth: Here we are, that ends the conversation with Kyle Portbury, director of The Hopeful Zenita.
Jarrod Stackelroth: You'll have to stay tuned to our social media. We're going to put up some other little snippets that we've done with Kyle, in record land and in science land. So some of our social channels there.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So if you're following us, you'll get to see some of those at some point in the lead up to the release of the movie, which is the 17th of October. I believe it comes out. into public release, there's going to be some prescreenings for Adventist members that they can go along to, I think, , the weekend before that.
Jarrod Stackelroth: so keep an eye out for more information in that space, but Zenita, we like to get practical here on Record Live. what can we take practically away from the conversation with Kyle [00:31:00] that we've had,
Zanita Fletcher: um,
Jarrod Stackelroth: over the last two weeks?
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah, I think one thing that I found really helpful and really interesting that he said was just when he was talking about, you asked him about how can people be more comfortable sharing their faith?
Zanita Fletcher: And he kind of boiled it down to just being more relational, like find things that you can talk to people about, focus on that relational aspect because that's where the fruit is kind of going to show. so don't stress so much about trying to say the right things and have those spiritual conversations, but just lead by example.
Zanita Fletcher: And I think,
Jarrod Stackelroth: I think that's the thing with the signs that we shared earlier and with the movie itself. It's an opportunity to be relational and share your faith in a relational way. I think Kyle really emphasized it might have been in the first part, take someone like make sure you're having, watching this movie in relationship with others.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So that's sort of a cool point, , that we can take away. Well, thanks again for joining us, on Record Live. We hope you have a great week and God bless. [00:32:00]