It’s Star Wars meets the Ten Commandments. A $50 million, no, make that $100 million futuristic fantasy film (with funding coming from “the Germans”) that a San Francisco pastor said he was commanded to make by that Studio Chief in the Sky. The story would be far too weird to believe had doc filmmaker Michael Jacobs not captured it all on film.

He played his Audience of One at last weekend’s True/False Festival (which, quick pitch, is the hippest festival in the UNIVERSE and, quick disclaimer, I do some writing for), continuing a festival run that includes wins at the Bend, SXSW, Silverdocs and SFDoc fests.

Our hero is Pentecostal pastor Richard Gazowski, who seems to spend much of his Sunday sermon preaching the gospel of big-budget indie cinema. He watched his first movie at 40, has never directed anything, but anticipates making the biggest blockbuster ever. One thing going for Gazowski: He’s persuasive enough to talk a bunch of people in working for him (and his wife agrees to sell their house to cover a trip to Italy to shoot the exterior scenes).

As he stalks the Italian set wearing an outfit that could have been lifted from a spoof of Orson Welles, Gazowski wrangles with his neglected actors (found via Craigslist), leads prayer sessions and urges on his design crew to create ever-more-wacked futuristic costumes and sets. Anyone who has seen Burden of Dreams, Lost in La Mancha or Hearts of Darkness knows how this narrative unfolds: Everything goes wrong. When Gazowski returns home, he and his quest to make the movie gets weirder. And weirder. And funnier.

Audience of One hasn’t found a home yet, but Jacobs said talks are underway with broadcasters and distributors.

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