Rebecca Grace

AFA Journal staff writer

April 2009 – Sitting on the front row among his filmmaking heroes, 19-year-old John Moore thought something had gone terribly wrong with the awards ceremony when The Widow’s Might won the $101,000 Best of Festival Jubilee Award at the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF).

Moore said hearing the title of his movie called out as winner of the grand prize for feature film felt like a mental typo. After all, Moore was a beginning director and The Widow’s Might was his first feature film project.

According to SAICFF, the award is the largest, single film festival grand prize of its kind in Ameria. The HeuMoore team is the youngest team to ever win the Best of Festival award from the SAICFF.

The HeuMoore Productions team is made up of John Moore and his best friend, David Heustis, 20. Together they have produced a variety of short films, but The Widow’s Might was their first venture into a feature-length film. 

“My body kind of moved while my brain was trying to catch up,” Moore said of his trek to the stage to receive the award. “I tripped walking up the stairs, but it was a really special moment, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

But for HeuMoore Productions, it’s not about awards. It’s about “creating films that glorify Christ and spread a message of truth.” 

Alternate industry
It began in 2004 when Moore and his father attended the SAICFF where they heard discussions about developing an alternate film industry to Hollywood. 

“It would be an industry where young people could be involved and families could work together without the need to sell, essentially, your soul to the devil by working in Hollywood,” Moore explained. “I was very interested in it and in working within that context, so I began studying film at that point and really researching what it would take to become an independent filmmaker.” 

In 2007, HeuMoore Productions submitted a short film titled Heartstrings to the SAICFF, and it won Audience Choice. So they began working on a project for the next festival. 

What began as a pitch for a screenplay about the Moore family doing something to help someone in their local community became The Widow’s Might, which was filmed in less than five months using an all-volunteer cast, a professional crew, a for-profit investment model, and a production budget of $130,000. 

Different entertainment
The Widow’s Might is a family-made movie about families making a movie. Moore calls the film indescribable. His brother Gator labels it a “westical comadrama,” that being the combination of a Western, a musical, a comedy and a drama. 

The westical comadrama tells the story of two families who come together to help an elderly widow who is losing her home due to outrageous property taxes. Their efforts become the storyline for a film being made by one son and his buddy as an effort to win the prestigious American Viewfinder film festival. It winds up being a tale of heroism. 

Sound familiar? It should. It’s basically the real story of Moore and Heustis’ making of The Widow’s Might for the SAICFF. Quirky, yet it works quite well.

Moore was the screenwriter, his mother the lyricist, his brother a lead actor, and his sister a vocalist. 

“It was truly a family effort, and it was an effort from a family of families,” Moore said. “It’s a testimony of a family’s love for each other, siblings working together, and families working in harmony to serve someone in their county.”

And it’s the product of filmmakers who, like Moore, see themselves as “servants to a community of people who are looking for something different in their entertainment.”   

REVIEW by Rebecca Grace
The Widow’s Might is not rated but suitable for the whole family. It’s strange, yet delightfully engaging. 

In one scene, the fictional film producers ask the mailman to deliver their film to people on his route. Director John Moore said the scene was intended for comedy, not to condone something unethical or illegal.

The Widow's Might can be viewed on youtube.com. After securing a distributor, the plan is to release the movie on DVD this summer.

Moore welcomes feedback from viewers at [email protected], and the HeuMoore team asks for prayers as they seek the Lord’s guidance in future projects both large and small.