Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul director Adamma Ebo, producer Adanne Ebo, and cinematographer Alan Gwizdowski

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 182: Adamma Ebo, Adanne Ebo, Alan Gwizdowski

Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul is a satirical dark comedy and mockumentary about Trinitie Childs, (Regina Hall) the “First Lady” of a Southern Baptist mega church and Lee-Curtis Childs, (Sterling K. Brown) her pastor husband. The pastor is accused of sexual misconduct and the two are struggling to relaunch their megachurch in the face of the controversy. As part of their public relations campaign, Trinitie and Lee-Curtis consent to a documentary crew following them.

Adamma was the writer and director of the film, and her twin Adanne was one of the producers of the film. The sisters have been partners their entire life, and enjoy working together. They grew up southern Baptist in Georgia, immersed in the megachurch culture. Both Adamma and Adanne felt that any evangelical megachurch’s messaging seemed insincere and un-Christian to get rich off of their congregants’ donations. With that background, Adamma decided to write a satire about a black southern megachurch- a fresh subject that she’d never seen on screen before. Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul started out as a short film that Adamma was able to develop into a feature.

Cinematographer Alan Gwizdowski (nicknamed Gwiz) took over the production when fellow DP Adam Bricker had a scheduling conflict. Adamma wanted the film to look and feel very much like a real documentary, mixed with a more cinematic, narrative film look. Gwiz knew they needed the two different worlds to be separated- the part of the documentary that the Childs want the “filmmakers” to see, vs. what the documentary filmmakers are able to capture behind the curtain. They decided to keep the more illicit documentary scenes handheld and the official documentary scenes had a more cinematic look.

Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul is in theaters and also streaming on Peacock.

Find Adamma Ebo Instagram: @adamma.ebo

Find Adanne Ebo Instagram: @adanne.ebo

Find Alan Gwizdowski Instagram: @alangwiz

Close Focus: Saudi Arabia is offering a 40% cash rebate to film productions, but continues to be a controversial place.

Ben’s short end: The podcast Pretend, a true crime documentary podcast about con artists. This season is a six part series uncovering Frank Abignail, the infamous con artist profiled in the movie Catch Me If You Can.

Illya’s short end: The Xperia 5 IV, a Sony Android phone that claims to do 4K 120 fps on all three rear cameras.

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras

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Podcast Credits:

Producer: Alana Kode

All web and social media content written by Alana Kode

Host and editor in Chief:  Illya Friedman

Instagram: @illyafriedman @hotrodcameras

Host: Ben Rock

Twitter: @neptunesalad

Instagram: @bejamin_rock

Editor: Ben Katz

Composer: Kays Al-Atrakchi

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