FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Catholic PRWire

Hope Media Productions
8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Ste 110-758
Los Angeles, CA 90045
www.hopemediaproductions.com.
For immediate release, please
Press Contact: Frank Tobin / Frank Tobin PR
323.661.3720
fxtobin@aol.com
Hope Media Contact: Ron Schmidt, S.J.
310.801.6692
Schmidt.re@gmail.com

Hope Media’s award-winning documentary
Franz Jägerstätter: A Man of Conscience to be distributed by Maryknoll / Orbis Books, Our Sunday Visitor and Vision Video.

Los Angeles, CA (February 2, 2010) – The award-winning documentary Franz Jägerstätter: A Man of Conscience, narrated by Golden Globe Award-winning actor and social activist Martin Sheen, will be distributed by Maryknoll / Orbis Books, Our Sunday Visitor and Vision Video, and cable distribution through CatholicTV, announced Ron Schmidt, S.J., producer and co-director of the documentary from Hope Media Productions and December 2nd Productions. The 24 minute documentary, which traces the life of Austrian conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter, whose moral convictions defied the Third Reich and led to imprisonment and execution at age 36 in 1943, follows the authorization by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 declaring Jägerstätter a martyr. Franz Jägerstätter: A Man of Conscience is the recipient of the 2009 Redemptive Storyteller Award from the Redemptive Film Festival.

An Austrian farmer and father of four, Franz Jägerstätter was faced with the choice to serve in Hitler's army or to face execution. A devout Catholic and loving husband and father, Franz struggled with his responsibilities to his family and to state authority, but in the end felt he could not betray God and his faith by serving the Third Reich. He was executed by beheading on August 9, 1943, at the age of 36. Using his journals and letters from prison, the documentary blends family interviews, archival photos and WW II footage to tell the story of Franz’s courageous stand.

Franz's letters from prison to his wife are read by Martin Sheen who comments: “As he stood alone against the greatest force of evil in the 20th century, the Nazis, Franz Jägerstätter discovered that conscience is costly, faith is necessary, and one man with courage is a majority.”

In June 2007 Pope Benedict XVI authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to publish a decree that declares Jägerstätter a martyr. The beatification ceremony took place on October 26, 2007 in Linz, Austria. His then 94-year-old widow, Franziska, and his four daughters attended the ceremony. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, noted in the beatification sermon that “Jägerstätter served as a model for Christians today who sometimes are confronted with ‘conditioning and manipulation of consciences and minds, sometimes through deceitful means.’"

About the Filmmakers:

Producer and co-director Ron Schmidt is a Jesuit priest and award-winning international documentary filmmaker whose films include On the Line a feature length documentary on the protest against the U.S. School of the Americas, In Spite of Darkness, a film on the annual non-denominational Auschwitz Retreat and numerous other short documentaries. Both films were awarded Silver Telly’s in 2008 for best in their categories. On the Line has secured international distribution and was broadcast on the Al Jazeera satellite network. Previously Vice President of two Catholic non-profit production companies: the San Damiano Foundation and Loyola Productions, Schmidt was executive producer on numerous video projects. He produced a project on the American Zen Buddhist Bernie Glassman, Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master's Recipe for Living a Life that Matters. He is producer/chair of the Gabriel Awards and has co-produced the Film Showcase at the L.A. Religious Education Congress. He is co-author of a study guide on the acclaimed documentary “Into Great Silence.” He also gives film seminars and film retreats. Schmidt, along with his director son, Jason, are currently in production on 432, a feature documentary about an Auschwitz survivor and artist Marian Kolodziej.

Co-director and producer Jason Schmidt co-directed and edited the award winning feature documentary, On the Line, which features Martin Sheen and Susan Sarandon. He has directed several PSA’s featuring Martin Sheen, worked as a videographer on several documentaries, edited two films and directed and edited a music video. He was the film editor and music editor on the award winning feature documentary In Spite of Darkness: A Spiritual Encounter with Auschwitz. Jason comes from a long line of filmmakers who have been in the film industry since the early 1930’s. His grandfather, Arthur P. Schmidt, was an Oscar-nominated editor and worked on Sayonara, Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard, and many other classic films. His uncle, Arthur ...