Everyone knows the Bible says homosexuality is wrong. But if pressed, how many people could point out the chapter, the verse, the proof of this sentiment contained in the Book of books? And really, is this even the truth?
This hypocrisy is what filmmaker Daniel Karslake, Trinity '87, strove to illustrate in his documentary For the Bible Tells Me So. Karslake is back at Duke this semester teaching a film class. He is the Program in Film/Video/Digital's second filmmaker-in-residence, after 2008's Ted Bogosian. His 2007 documentary was on the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards and premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
The movie tells the story of five families-the Poteats, Reitans, Wallners, the family of former U.S. House of Representatives member Dick Gephardt and the family of Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson-who all have had a family member come out of the closet as a gay male or female. All five families faced the dilemma of how to reconcile their religious beliefs with the reality of a homosexual relative.
"The people that I most wanted to speak to were the people who used the Bible to excuse their beliefs," Karslake said. "As someone who has done a huge amount of research into [homosexuality in the Bible], I knew that this didn't work."
Karslake knew the potency of citing the Bible as an excuse for behaviors such as homophobia, and his film aims to demonstrate not only that scripture contains no such substance, but also how real human experience can change people's opinions.
In For the Bible Tells Me So, Karslake interviews widely-respected individuals. The aforementioned Gephardt and Robinson are featured heavily, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa also appears. Karslake explained that the inclusion of all three hinged on certain amounts of his own tenacity and luck and the interviewees' strong interest in his mission.
"As soon as I decided to make the film in 2003, in June, Gene Robinson was elected by the people of New Hampshire to be their Episcopal bishop. At that point that he was elected, he was getting more death threats than the president of the United States," Karslake said. "I explained to him who I was and what I was doing. We really just clicked, and he said that he would allow me to tell his story."
This semester, Karslake is teaching a class called Everything They Don't Teach You In Film School.
He said the class revolves around preparing students for such challenges as fundraising for films, using archival footage and the nature of fair use laws-all obstacles he was not prepared for during his time at the University of Southern California's film school.
Former FVD Program Director David Paletz, professor of political science, is the individual who brought Karslake back to Duke to teach.
"When we showed his film at Duke last year it attracted the largest audience in the history of Screen/Society filling Griffith," he wrote in an e-mail. "I looked to bring filmmakers who had graduated from the University back to lecture and, if possible teach here. So I was delighted when Daniel agreed to teach for us for a semester during this academic year."
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