'End of the Spear' Earns Crystal Heart Award from Heartland Film Festival

'End of the Spear' Earns Crystal Heart Award from Heartland Film Festival

Movie Recounts Epic Testimony of Missionary Slayings and Tribe's Redemption

OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The soon-to-be released motion picture "End of the Spear," an inspirational film based on the epic story of five slain missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador, has been honored with a coveted Crystal Heart Award (dramatic feature) from the Heartland Film Festival.

The Heartland Film Festival, a non-profit organization based in Indianapolis, was established in 1991 to recognize and honor filmmakers whose work explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life. The festival seeks to recognize theatrically-released films that seek to enrich, inspire, and provide hope.

"End of the Spear" is among a select group of independent films in dramatic, documentary and animated categories to receive the Heartland Film Festival Crystal Heart Award. As a Crystal Heart winner, "End of the Spear" qualifies as a candidate for a $50,000 grand prize award during the Heartland Film Festival, which will be held in Indianapolis, Oct. 13 - 21, 2005. The movie will be featured several times throughout the festival.

Every Tribe Entertainment, an independent film studio formed to create quality entertainment for general market audiences that inspires hope through truth, said "End of the Spear," its first theatrical release, will release in theaters nationwide on Jan. 20, 2006. The true story commemorates a classic Christian testimony of tragedy, triumph, forgiveness and redemption on the fiftieth anniversary of the missionary slayings.

"We feel extremely honored to receive a Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival," said Mart Green, founder and CEO of Every Tribe Entertainment. "Making this film has been an incredible experience and a true labor of love for all involved. This public recognition is affirmation that we have created a powerful and moving film that will impact people, and we are excited about the momentum that's building toward the theatrical release in January."

"End of the Spear" tells the story of the martyred missionaries with a focus on the father/son relationship that develops between Steve Saint, who was five years old when his father, Nate Saint, was murdered by the Waodani tribe, and Mincaye, one of the tribesmen involved in the spearings. Steve Saint grew up knowing the men who had killed his father and came to love them, to regard them as family, to be baptized by their hands and to be embraced as a son in their tribe. Today, he is using this movie to share his family's story of tragedy and triumph with a worldwide audience.

Rated PG-13, the film is 111 minutes long, and is a dramatic adaptation of the 2002 Crystal Heart Award-winning documentary, "Beyond the Gates of Splendor." The documentary, available in stores nationwide in October 2005, details the deaths of missionaries Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian with insight from the missionaries' widows and children, as well as interviews with the actual tribesmen involved in the missionaries' spearings.

"It's extremely gratifying to be recognized by the Heartland Film Festival. Their Crystal Heart Award honors the very thing we strive for in our films -- to impact culture through true stories," said "End of the Spear" and "Beyond the Gates of Splendor" director Jim Hanon. "Our hope for 'End of the Spear' is that people of all walks of life will see the film and be touched by it in a very personal way."

About Every Tribe Entertainment

Every Tribe Entertainment (http://www.everytribe.com/ ) is an independent film studio dedicated to telling stories through inspiring films that touch hearts, minds and souls. Every Tribe Entertainment grew out of the hopes and dreams of filmmakers and individuals who desire to make a difference in our world and in our culture. Frustrated with the lack of quality story content in films today, and driven to provide more than just entertainment in our films, Every Tribe was founded to bring to life stories of courage and strength of the human spirit.

Source: Every Tribe Entertainment

CONTACT: Tara Powers of Lambert, Edwards & Associates, +1-616-233-0500, tpowers@lambert-edwards.com , for Every Tribe Entertainment

Web site: http://www.everytribe.com/

------- Profile: Ent