By Laura Acuff, Staff Writer
“The Making of Jacob’s Dream,” a 28-minute high-definition film detailing the final two years of the production of Jacob’s Dream, won four International Telly Awards in the 28th annual competition.
Jacob’s Dream, the 40-foottall bronze sculpture of four angels ascending and descending a ladder into heaven, depicts a scene referenced in Genesis 28.
“I was excited about it because we thought it was a nice film and really an impressive job, but you don’t know how that might be perceived outside ACU,” said the sculpture’s artist and chair of the art and design department, Jack Maxwell, when asked about his reaction to news of the film’s success. “To think that people who really had no relationship to the university liked it, that is really good.”
The film, first produced to air at the Feb. 2007 President’s Circle Dinner, competed with 14,000 other entries to win awards in cinematography, editing, education and religion/ spirituality categories, according to a press release.
Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards recognize exemplary work including “local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs, film and video productions; and Web commercials, videos and films,” according to the press release.
Although past ACU-produced films have won four Telly Awards, “The Making of Jacob’s Dream” doubled that number by winning four of its own, but Creative Services director and the film’s producer, Ron Hadfield, said he wasn’t surprised. Hadfield said the excellence of the film arose from the inspiring subject matter.
“I’m grateful, but I’m not that surprised,” Hadfield said. “It’s just a beautiful piece of art, and I think the story is compelling. It was just a privilege to be able to work on it, to try to recreate that, to try to tell that.”
Hadfield said he hopes the film encourages people to visit the ACU campus and “experience Jacob’s Dream for themselves,” discovering personal meaning within the artwork. “I think it’s worthy of people spending time there to explore it and contemplate it and see what it really means to them,” Hadfield said.
More information about Jacob’s Dream can be found at www.acu.edu/jacobsdream, and “The Making of Jacob’s Dream” may be viewed on ACU’s iTunes U Web site, accessible at www.acu.edu/itunes.
