An art-film documentary on young Christians has been picked up by Magnolia Pictures for distribution to theaters around the nation. The Hollywood Reporter writes,

Magnolia Pictures has nabbed North American rights to "Jesus Camp," a documentary about a retreat for born-again Christian children.

The project revolves around three youngsters who attend the Rev. Becky Fischer’s "Kids on Fire" summer camp in Devil’s Lake, N.D. It details their training to "take back America for Christ" and hone "prophetic gifts" in a mission as political as it is religious. The film was directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.

According the Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles as quoted in the story, "One of the great strengths of the film is that it doesn’t come with this prepackaged point of view." To buttress this claim in hopes of making the film palatable to Christian audiences, Bowles pulled the film from its scheduled showing next week at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival.

Given the film’s openly arch title and Magnolia president’s strenuous claims that the film is objective, one suspects that it will make its young subjects look rather ridiculous. That is not at all difficult to do if one looks at some of the more florid varieties of Christian enthusiasm out there, and to suggest that this is what Christianity is all about would be a reprehensible falsehood. In addition, all children—and indeed all human beings—look rather ridiculous when viewed at certain moments. However, a real attempt to understand these children would make for some enlightening cinema. We shall have to see the film before drawing any conclusions about its likely effects, of course, though the initial signs are not overly encouraging.