IKON | The Spiritual Imagination

We are seeking nothing less than a miracle: a film with a few seconds of eternity in it.
— Ron Austin, “The Spiritual Frontiers of Film“

We find a shared experience….We approach the essence of creation. Because to render the human face in generous light is an act of grace.
— Scott Teems, “Necessary Images“

Writer-producer-directors Scott Teems and Ron Austin join IKON Director Caleb Monroe for a public conversation on the spiritual frontiers of cinematic storytelling followed by a time of Q&A.

Ron Austin was born in Hollywood in 1934, acted for Charlie Chaplin and Viola Spolin as a teenager, may be the last living writer blacklisted by Hollywood in the fifties, and worked as a writer-producer in films and TV for over 40 years. He is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Writers Guild of America. Ron’s other careers have included stints as a social worker, a prison chaplain, and a teacher of screenwriting and media arts at USC Cinema School and the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkley.

Scott Teems is currently in post-production on The Quarry, his second feature as writer-director. His debut feature, That Evening Sun, won the Audience Award and Special Jury Award at SXSW, won more than a dozen major awards at festivals across North America, and was nominated for two Film Independent Spirit Awards. He wrote, directed, and produced three seasons of the Peabody Award-winning SundanceTV drama Rectify and is currently a co-executive producer of the Netflix series Narcos. His documentary, Holbrook/Twain, was released November 19, 2019.