Defining the Faith-Based Movie Genre, Why it Should Matter

What is a faith-based film? Is it a movie made by the faith-based film industry? Is it a movie marketed toward Christians? Is it any movie with a redemptive message? Behind what sounds like a simple series of questions is a battle that actually matters because it’s about what kinds of movies – and therefore what kinds of representations of faith – various religious communities own as their own, and therefore which faith experiences are validated in the cultural imagination. But to understand this controversy, and why it matters, we need to go back to the beginning.