Jesus Freak is a 2003 American micro-budget drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 directed by Morgan Nichols

Morgan Nichols (director)

Morgan Nichols is a US film director from Kennebunk, Maine. His award-winning features Jesus Freak and the little Death are examples of micro-budget filmmaking...

. It stars Laura Lee Bahr, Regan Forman, Pete Kuzov, and Oded Gross, and tells the story of a teenage girl who, while struggling to find her identity in her small-minded town, brings home a man who is either her savior, a migrant Mexican, or both. The film was shot on location in Portales

Portales

-Places:* Portales, New Mexico, a city from the United States* Portales Forest Reserve, in New Mexico-Organizations:* Diego Portales University, a Chilean University* Metro Portales, a Mexican station of metro...

, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

, where screenwriter and star Laura Lee Bahr grew up.

Synopsis

(The following synopsis was written by Susanna Ulrich for the LA Film Festival)

Life in Portales, New Mexico isn’t easy for high school bad girl Lily (Laura Lee Bahr, who also wrote the screenplay). Weekends mean endless cruising until the cough syrup kicks in. The boy she loves won’t commit, she’s surrounded by strident born-again Christians, and her budding sexuality is starting to earn her a reputation.

To top it off, while others in her Sunday school class report visions of Jesus as Ronald Reagan or Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily’s personal savior appears to her as a gangly, Spanish-speaking migrant worker. Oh well, she figures, any boyfriend in a pinch.

Cast

• Laura Lee Bahr as Lily
• Regan Forman as Christy
• Pete Kuzov as John
• Oded Gross as Tom
• Josh Kantor as Jesus
• Robin Mullins as Lily's Mother

Awards, honors, and festivals

• Jesus Freak won the Best Southwest Award at the Santa Fe Film Festival
  Santa Fe Film Festival
  The Santa Fe Film Festival is a Non-Profit Organization which presents important world cinema in a non-commercial context that represents aesthetic, critical and entertainment standards highlighting New Mexican film, new American and foreign film including revivals, retrospectives, independent...
  
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• Jesus freak was a "sleeper hit" at the first Tallgrass Film Festival
  Tallgrass Film Festival
  The Tallgrass Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Wichita, Kansas. It was founded in 2003 by Timothy Gruver, and is operated by the non-profit organization Tallgrass Film Association.It is a four-day independent film festival, open to the public, and screens roughly 120 features and...
  
  .

Reception

Susanna Ulrich of the Los Angeles Film Festival

Los Angeles Film Festival

The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...

 said of Jesus Freak: "By turns wistful, poignant and offbeat, the debut feature from director Morgan Nichols ultimately captures the confusion of adolescence with a rare, touching grace." Variety said "There's a Claire Danes

Claire Danes

Claire Catherine Danes is an American actress of television, stage and film. She has appeared in roles as diverse as Angela Chase in My So-Called Life, as Juliet in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, as Kate Brewster in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as Yvaine in Stardust and as Temple Grandin in...

quality to Bahr's gentle, nuanced performance that solidly anchors the film."

External links

• The original trailer for Jesus Freak