Release Date

Well,

This small letter is to those who are wondering where this project is headed. We have finished all pre-production and are in the final stages of production, and are ready to set a release date. We are not releasing an actual date as of yet, but we are saying early fall 2010. The screenings will probably start around the same time to help promote the sales. All of the money raised from the film will be put towards homeless ministries. We do hope to set some aside for future use in a second documentary. So we are planning as of now to head out to the NAB conference in April and make some connections with distributors. So this is where we are at with the film, "Simply Alive." We have had alot of interest in screenings and are still working on that list as well. In the meantime we are just allowing the stories to continue to develop as we continue to develop relationships with those in the streets and the other ministries that are present. Please continue to check up, or feel free to write us on any questions you may have regarding the film, or are interested in hosting a screening at: malachifilms@live.com . Thank you all for your continuing support,

Caleb Childers

Malachi Films

The film is on hold as I film a second film

I was planning on finishing the film this summer, but another great opportunity has arrisen. 
I am leaving for the Pacific Crest Trail tommorow afternoon. Please be praying for me! I will be updating the blog as much as possible, maybe once a month. Thank you all who are supporting Team sweetwater. please visit the site at www.teamsweetwater.net . Much love to all of you! God Bless,

Caleb

Walking the streets

Walking the streets, its hard to pop out a notebook sometimes. People constantly asking, "Do you have any weed?...Will you smoke with me?" I just hope that I can show them true hope by providing them with means to which show their reality to the world. This is something I wrote when I was there:

Noise, noise, and more noise. The busy streets buzz and chant. Smiles, laughter, and jeering. English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and French. The diversity of Los Angeles is incredible, and yet the diverse poverty is so increasing. 

I walked into Starbucks on the edge of skid Row because my bladder cant take much more walking. The music on their speakers was blues music. So ironic, blues music is probably one of the richest musical style that digs into the soul of man. It comes from the poor of the swamplands in New Orleans, which originally can go back into old Spirituals. Isnt it so ironic that amidst such wealth in the city of Los Angeles, two societies are existing simultaneously. High and Low spciety at its deepest meanings.

I am astounded and yet I know this phenomenon is global. Growing up in South America I saw that the more wealthy a society gets, the more poverty flocks to such an area. This is a major issue. How can we get them off the streets? What is it that we can be doing as individuals united together for a common goal? What programs don't exist that SHOULD?

-Caleb Childers

Malachi Films

High Definition

Today I am having the privaledge of lugging my new High Definition camera down to the streets. It has been so long since I have been down, I cannot wait to be back. What is the moral behind taking such nice equipment to such a dark place? Should it not be that we should be taking them out of poverty and into riches?

I love to talk philosophy with the homeless, ussually because their wisdom is so enhanced by their landless worldview. It gives us all a different perspective. I hope to make more and more connections with the different organizations that are sincerely doing good in skid row.

Its hard as a journalist/filmmaker to be excited about getting good shots while all the while watching the suffering through the lens of a camera. I only hope that all my efforts make even myself become more and more active in ending this American injustice.

Caleb Childers
Malachi Films

Struggla

The voice shouted at me in the middle of the night. I was walking away, my eyes deep with tears. I couldnt help him. There was nothing I could do. His name is Antoine, and he is sleeping on Skid Row tonight. Im sure of that. He disrespected the missions for what they had done to his friends, and he worked daily just to smoke a blunt. He was tired, hungry, broken, and homeless. He saw my dreadlocks and immeadiately started up a conversation about Bob Marley.
"Why do you want to be Bob Marley?"
I just chuckled, "I'm not that big of a Marley fan, its actually my personal motivation to stay pure."
"To stay pure from what?" He smiled and laughed at me. He was on something, whether it was grass, or "cavies"...I dont know. But something was distorting his view of reality.
"To abstain from impure things."I answered, knowing he would never understand. 
"ok, Bob." 

We went on to talk about money and understanding the need for help and sustinance. "I dont need anything! Look at me man!" He laughed and danced in the street. I did look at him, and my heart was in pain. It looked as if he hadnt eaten in months and all he had done with his money was smoke, even his clothing was torn. 
But soon after his laughter, he began to cry. He hadnt seen his daughter in years. He didnt know how long it had been. 
"I want to help her, teach her, you know. But I'm just a struggla. I struggle at everythin. There is notin I can do right."
I went on to ask him about his past and how he got to the street, and i looked at him square in the face and said, "Listen Antione, you better not lie to me, if drugs got you here, you tell me drugs. Dont polish it my friend. Im no tourist to the streets. Ive had my fair share of time in the lows."
When he cried I cried, and when he laughed I laughed. I prayed for him and told him that I loved him and would visit him more. 

-In light of that story, I want you, the readers to understand my failure. This happened months ago. I wrote it down in my journal from the day that i was in skid row for several meetings. i hadnt looked back on it, in light of trying to work on my film. It wasnt till tonight that i read this again. I am torn to think that i havent seen him in so long. If you decide that you want to help the homeless you must be consistent. I can no longer use the excuse that School is more important than another humans life. I have been given enough time to do both, and the life of Antoine should be of more concern to me than getting my diploma. So I will soon visit skid row again, with or without a camera to see my friends there and to be there for them in any need they may have that I can provide. I hope you have learned my lesson without living it. 

Caleb Childers
Malachi Films

Volunteers Needed

Well, back again in Southern California after traveling over the winter and the streets just keep calling me back. I have been back a couple of days and still crave to get back down to Skid Row. I have been working more on the screenplay for the final cut of the film, and we are still short on footage, so I am dedicating these next couple months to making sure we get the material needed to finally compile the film. Besides the film, I was made aware of the Monterey County Herald asking for volunteers and help for the homeless. Much like what I recall the San Francisco "Care not Cash" program. And although I know that funding is a necessity for homelessness to end, we need donors who are also willing to donate time and personality to helping homeless. The best thing I can think of doing for the homeless is not making a film, is not volunteering on my weekends to work in shelters, it was to sit down and talk with them, and let them know that they are real just as i am real, and that they need love and respect just as I do. If we want to revolutionize the effort to end homelessness it must be done with people who are passionate about loving the homeless and serving them. That said, go check out the Monterey Herald's article (http://www.montereyherald.com/breaking/ci_11423838?nclick_check=1 ) and if you live in the area, go help out! Help out wherever help is needed. There is no shelter who will turn down a volunteer, I promise you that! 

Caleb Childers

Malachi Films

Lucy

On Skid Row, you meet different people with all different stories. The older women there are always reffered to as "mamas" because of the way they care for the other homeless on the streets. Lucy is one of these women who lays her head outside of the Midnight Mission on San Julian in L.A. every night. I have spent times with her that will never be forgotten. This is a little sneak peak of her story.

Caleb Childers
Malachi Films