An Anglo-Irish Convert in "the City"

Christian filmmakers and producers on crusade to take back the culture

NYTimes.com

On the Right Side of the Theater Aisle

By JAMES ULMER
Published: June 26, 2005

LOS ANGELES

THE film producer Stephen K. Bannon isn't just on a crusade. He's on a roll.

"Look at Feb. 25, 2004 - a watershed week for the Hollywood right," he said in his Santa Monica office while scribbling a circle around the word "Lord" on his whiteboard. "On Ash Wednesday, 'The Passion of the Christ' is released theatrically, and on Sunday, 'Lord of the Rings' - a great Christian allegory - wins 11 Academy Awards. So here you have Sodom and Gomorrah bowing to the great Christian God, and did you guys notice? No, because 99 per cent of the content in the media's sewage pipes is the culture of death, not life."

He next circled the word "Evil," part of the title of a 2004 political documentary for which he was director, co-author and co-producer. "If the last election showed one thing, it's that culture drives politics. I want to take the form that is now owned by the left - the documentary - and use it to help drive an overall political agenda that supports the culture of life."

Though heavier than most on messianic zeal, Mr. Bannon - Roman Catholic filmmaker, conservative-film financier, Washington networker and Hollywood deal-chaser - is emblematic of a new wave in Hollywood, a group that intends to clean those media pipes with pictures that promote godliness, Pax Americana and its own view of family values. Some of these filmmakers, armed with camcorders and Web sites, are pushing overtly political projects in the blogosphere and at conservative festivals, including last year's Liberty Film Festival in West Hollywood, at which Mr. Bannon's "In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed" won an award.

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