Contact: George Escobar, 703-409-4416

MEDIA ADVISORY, Jan. 7 /Christian Newswire/ -- With a tiny budget and cast and crew of homeschool students, Advent Film Group (AFG) begins "pickup" filming of its first movie, "Come What May" for a week on location at Purcellville, Virginia in late January 2008. During a special AFG Film Day on January 30th, a contingent of homeschool families from across the country will join the set, some from as far away as Oregon and Texas.

Pickups allows filmmakers to re-shoot scenes, add effects, and get new footage for a final cut. AFG's movie has attracted wide attention because it features Patrick Henry College, a national powerhouse in debate and moot court competition. The movie centers on pro-life/pro-family issues fought in the U.S. Supreme Court and National Moot Court Championship. This is the first of five movies planned by AFG.

AFG Supporters will be cast as movie extras, with new students selected to work behind-the-camera for the week, learning from a professional crew and veteran AFG students.

"This fulfills part of AFG's mission," says Ex-Discovery executive and AFI Producing Fellow George Escobar, a homeschooling dad. "We are training students who will one-day direct big-budget films with moral integrity. To get there we're turning the traditional film school model upside-down."

Unlike film schools where students pay large tuitions to make short or student films, AFG productions are feature-length from the start. The company actually pays college students a small stipend even as AFG trains them, qualifying them to earn professional credits, and gives them profit-participation.

Escobar explains, "We're doing this because film schools really don't work for Christian filmmakers. Secular film programs often lead Christians toward compromise, while Christian film students are compelled to remain in televangelism or fuzzy faith-based projects." Escobar claims, "The status quo is clearly broken, otherwise big-budget faith-based or Christian-authored movies like "Amazing Grace" or "Narnia" would be directed by Christian directors. Unless you finance the film yourself as Mel Gibson did for "Passion of the Christ."

Starting out small, AFG's movies are similar to "Facing The Giants" in scale, scope, and aspiration. "We are building AFG from within the homeschooling community because homeschoolers have a strong track record for innovation, organization, and success," Escobar remarks. "Just ask Mike Huckabee."

Advent Film Group was recently founded by Christian filmmakers to champion the mission and vision of Patrick Henry College and other like-minded organizations to shape our culture through media. See trailer at www.adventfilmgroup.com.