Community & Alumni Blog
Alumnus uses new films to explore old stories
What would it look like to retell a handful of biblical stories in a modern day context?
That’s the question that sparked Kid Shorts, a series of five videos from filmmaker and CMU alumnus Paul Plett (2004-05).
“I had this idea that you could take a look at scripture and you could envision it in a new way,” Plett says. “You could breathe some life into it by setting it in a modern day context, and you could do that through the perspective of a child.”
After CMU, Paul Plett attended the Toronto Film School.
Plett made the first video in 2013. Titled Dave vs. the Bully, it re-tells the story of David and Goliath.
In the video, a student named Dave shows up to his elementary school classroom to find a boy named Greg terrorizing his classmates.
Dave takes two stones out of his pocket and challenges Greg to a game: If Greg can throw one of the stones and hit the gong at the back of the classroom, he gets to pummel Dave.
If he misses, and Dave hits the gong with one of the stones, Greg has to stop tormenting his classmates.
In addition to re-telling a biblical story, each video explores a particular theme. For Dave vs. the Bully, Plett says, the idea was to take conflict transformation and make it entertaining.
For Hope in the Dry Season, the second video in the series, Plett aimed to re-tell the story of Job while exploring the theme of food security.
The other three videos in the series – The Lost Goat, Runaway, and Sam and the Thief – are re-tellings of the Good Shepherd, the Prodigal Son, and the Good Samaritan, respectively.
Plett travelled to Kenya to film Hope in the Dry Season.
Hope in the Dry Season and The Lost Goat were filmed in Kenya because the themes lent themselves to an African backdrop.
Having grown up in Zambia and Sudan while his parents worked with Mennonite Central Committee, Plett was eager to return to the continent that helped shape him.
After graduating from Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener, ON, Plett studied at CMU for one year before moving on to the Toronto Film School, where he graduated in 2007.
“For a young (person) leaving home and spending time at a university like CMU, it’s a safe place to think about ideas and a safe place to learn about yourself and others,” Plett says. “Although I didn’t finish a degree at CMU, it introduced me to a lot of people I’ve been reintroduced to in subsequent years.”
Since graduating from film school, Plett has paid the bills by making videos for a number of international non-governmental organizations, including Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
He has also kept busy creating his own independent films and documentaries.
He recently completed a documentary about Peter Loewen, a bicycle shop owner in Winker, MB, that will air on MTS Stories from Home. Plett is currently working on Northern Folk, a documentary about folk music that has taken him to Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax.
He was also in Bangladesh last month, studying the effects of climate change there with his friend, independent journalist Josiah Neufeld.
Filming Kid Shorts was an opportunity to bridge the gap between his NGO work and his passion for creating independent films and documentaries.
The Kid Shorts videos are available for free from CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre. A study guide accompanies each video so that they can be used as teaching tools in churches, Sunday Schools, and Vacation Bible Schools.
Plett celebrated the completion of the series with a screening event in Winnipeg this past November.
“It’s nice to be able to see the idea I had at the beginning has been fleshed out,” he says. “Looking back at the five videos and study guides definitely feels like an accomplishment.”
Watch the Kid Shorts series by visiting www.commonword.ca/ResourceView/54/17169 and keep up with Plett’s work at www.ode-productions.com.
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