Tyndale Hosts Eric Till, Director of Luther

Thursday, December 19, 2013

At the end of November, Tyndale’s Theology and History department hosted Canadian Director Eric Till to a special screening of his 2003 motion picture, Luther.

As part of the Tyndale course, Film and Faith: The Canadian Voice, professor Paul Burford invited Eric to speak about his experience making the film. The course “looks at the language of film that has been expressed in a Canadian context and how that language of film impacts our faith and our theological understanding of the world,” states professor Burford.

Following the screening was a panel discussion that included the director, professor Burford, and other Tyndale Seminary professors, including Dr. Victor Shepherd, Dr. Ronald Kydd, and Rev. Donald Goertz.

Eric has made over thirty motion pictures and television films since 1968. He has directed films with well-known Hollywood actors such as Donald Sutherland and Alan Arkin. Over the years, Eric has won prestigious awards for Canadian Film and Television, including nine Gemini Awards, The Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, and the Directors Guild of Canada’s Lifetime Achievement Award – its highest honor.

Luther stars famous actor Joseph Fiennes, who plays the polemical Reformer and pastor with stunning “talent and charisma,” states Till.

The film was shot in three different countries: Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

When asked why he decided to direct the film, he referred to Luther’s “Here I stand” moment as one of the greatest events of human history. “To be able to present that on film was irresistible.”

What has guided Eric in all his years as a director was the advice he received early on in his career from Oscar winning writer, director and producer, Joseph Mankiewicz: “If you do anything, just tell us a good story.”

In his film Luther, Eric certainly brings to life one of the greatest stories of Christianity and how it changed the Church and helped shape the modern world.

 

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