Film Festival — News

COMING-OF-AGE MUSIC-COMEDY FILM “ELECTRIC JESUS”

PREMIERES AT FILM FESTIVALS THIS FALL

Fictional band 316 Released First Single And Video “Commando For Christ”

With Distribution Through Joyful Noise Recordings

Original Score by Daniel Smith (Danielson Famile) and Original Songs by Smith and Director Chris White

Gunner Willis_Wyatt Lenhart_Will Oliver_ELECTRIC JESUS.jpg

WATCH VIDEO FOR “COMMANDO FOR CHRIST”: HERE

GREENVILLE, SC – “Electric Jesus” is a wistful coming-of-age music-comedy that follows the ill-fated journey of a never-famous 80’s Christian hair metal band who spends the summer of 1986 playing rock music meant to ‘make Jesus famous.’ The film will screen at film festivals all over the United States this fall - most notably competing for Best Narrative Feature at the 2020 Nashville Film Festival, October 1-7.

Written and directed by Chris White, the film features Judd Nelson (The Breakfast Club), Brian Baumgartner (The Office), Shawn Parsons, Rhoda Griffis and Claire Bronson. The film is produced by Chris White and Emily Reach White with Emily Reach White, Ryan Bury and James Andrew Felts serving as Executive Producers. John J. Thompson, Christian Rock’s most noted historian, is music supervisor and historical advisor to the film.

With original score and music by Daniel Smith (Danielson Famile, Sufjan Stevens, Jad Fair, et al), fictitious band 316 plays an otherworldly mash-up of 80’s hair metal and vacation Bible school that wears its teenage protagonists’ hearts on its sleeve while rocking their socks off.

The first single from the film’s soundtrack, “Commando For Christ,” is a blistering Christian hair metal anthem co-written by film composer Daniel Smith and writer/director Chris White. It was released through Joyful Noise Recordings on June 26th with the official video featuring movie band 316 which is made up of four new/emerging stars: Wyatt Lenhart (singer/guitarist), Will Oliver (lead guitarist), Gunner Willis (bassist) and Caleb Hoffmann (drummer). Close watchers will glimpse star Brian Baumgartner as 316’s lovable but shady manager Skip Wick and newcomer Shannon Hutchinson who plays a preacher’s daughter who runs off with the band.

Featuring music that spans hard rock, metal, bluegrass, cow-punk, and pop, “Electric Jesus” transports its audience back to where we all want to be: young, free, on the road and alive with purpose and possibility.

As “Electric Jesus” looks to Fall 2020 film festivals and a worldwide release to follow, record label Joyful Noise Recordings will release several songs from the film over the course of the summer and fall — on limited edition, 7” vinyl, and on all major streaming platforms. These releases and the accompanying music videos will coincide with a crowdfunding campaign for the full movie soundtrack — to be released on streaming, vinyl, and CD in November.

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