Lord David Puttman to open CRE

The producer of Chariots of Fire, Lord David Puttnam will open this year's Christian Resources Exhibition International (CRE).

Lord Puttnam

Lord Puttnam, who turned the story of athlete Eric Liddell into the Oscar-winning movie classic, will launch a special set of church and community resources created by the Damaris Trust to accompany a re-release of the digitally re-mastered film in cinemas across the country.

"In this unique year, with the London Games at the very top of the agenda, we are delighted to invite such a distinguished person to open the show," said Paul Trott, head of marketing for CRE's parent company Bible Society.

"The story of Eric Liddell continues to inspire and challenge. We expect hundreds of UK churches to come to CRE and discover some great ways to communicate to their communities before and during the Games."

Speaking about Damaris Trust on behalf of CRE, Stephen Goddard said: "They do a lot of work creating resources for churches to discuss issues raised in feature films. When they heard Chariots of Fire was to be re-released within the UK again, it was a natural idea of theirs to take hold of a great opportunity for churches to use the film creatively to spark discussions and make the most of it in an olympic year".

Lord Puttnam's visit to Sandown Park on 8th-11th May coincides with the launch of the first-ever UK Christian Film Festival taking place at CRE, often dubbed the 'ideal church show'.

"When the initiative to bring Lord Puttnam to CRE was happening at the same time, there was a natural synergy of the two coming together as a great opportunity," Mr Goddard said.

The festival will feature star-studded, high-profile productions such as Lion of Judah (Ernest Borgnine, Michael Madsen) and Jerusalem Countdown (Lee Majors, Randy Travis).

Also screened will be movies from new, up-and-coming Christian filmmakers, among them the first Christian Bollywood offering, Anbirkk Alavillai.

Festival director Ray Horowitz said: “We are very excited about our partnership with CRE and Bible Society, enabling us to bring the best of Christian films to the largest audience possible.