The Jesus Film Project is an organization created in 1981 by

Campus Crusade for Christ Cru (until 2011 known as Campus Crusade for Christ—informally "Campus Crusade" or simply "Crusade"—or CCC) is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by ...

founder

Bill Bright William R. Bright (October 19, 1921 – July 19, 2003) was an American Evangelism, evangelist. In 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles, he founded Campus Crusade for Christ as a ministry for university students. In 1952 he wrote ...

to distribute the 1980 film, ''

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

'', not only in English, but also in many of the world's languages with the stated goal of reaching "every nation, tribe, people and tongue, helping them see and hear the story of Jesus in a language they can understand." The Jesus Film Project is also a member of the Forum of Bible Agencies International.

History

Bright wanted to bring a biblically accurate depiction of the life, ministry, and death of

to the big screen, and in 1979, filming began in the Middle East with British

Shakespearean William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

actor Brian Deacon in the role of Jesus. When the original

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

theatrical run of ''Jesus'' ended in 1980, Bright asked Paul Eshleman, who was involved in the production, to head the organization. Eshleman remained in the position until 2004, when Jim Green was named as the organization's executive director. By the end of 2023, the ''Jesus'' film was available in 2210 languages, and viewed over 598 million times. This was up from the 2018 figures of being available in 1,724 languages. and had been viewed nearly 375 million times at that time. This has resulted in the ''Jesus'' film being recognized by ''The Guinness Book of World Records'' as the "Most Translated Film" in history, revealing the seriousness with which the Jesus Film Project takes their objective to share the gospel with people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

Mission 865

Starting in 2010, Mission 865 is one of the largest ongoing initiatives of the Jesus Film Project. It is an initiative to translate the Jesus film into the native language of each people group with 50,000 or more speakers – and smaller languages as determined, particularly targeting the

10/40 window The 10/40 Window is a term coined by Christian missionary strategist and Partners International CEO Luis Bush in 1990 to refer to those regions of the eastern hemisphere, plus the European and African part of the western hemisphere, located bet ...

. This would ensure that 99% of the world would have access to the film in a language they can understand. In 2010, when the project was launched, there were 865 languages that they wished to translate the film into. The goal is to complete these 865 languages by the end of 2025. , 612 languages of the targeted 865 had a translated film. As of August 2024, this had increased to 694 languages, representing an almost 78% completion rate.

''Magdalena: Released from Shame''

In 2007, the project released the movie ''Magdalena: Released from Shame'', which utilized footage from the project's 1980 film ''Jesus''. The movie told the story of Jesus as seen through the eyes of four different women: the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

, the

Samaritan woman at the well The Samaritan woman at the well is a figure from the Gospel of John. John 4:4–42 relates her conversation with Jesus at Jacob's Well near the city of Sychar. Biblical account The woman appears in : This episode takes place before the ...

, and

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ...

. Critical reception for the movie was positive and the film is heavily utilized in missionary work. It is now available in 200 languages.

''Rivka''

The Jesus Film Project released three additional films in 2011: ''Rivka'', a 12-episode series; ''Walking with Jesus'', a 5-episode series "produced by Africans for Africans"; and an animation, ''My Last Day''.Stewart M. Hoover, Nabil Echchaibi ''Media and Religion: The Global View'' p 147 ... a five-part series called Walking with Jesus, “produced by Africans for Africans,” helps viewers understand the ... My Last Day was conceived to reach a younger audience since its animé style “visually translates” the Jesus film .

References

External links