Where Jesus Camp played the conflict between contemporary evangelical Christianity and the secular community for liberal-baiting horror, Michael Jacobs takes the route of real-life mockumentary with Audience of One, which debuted at SXSW in 2007 and concludes a long festival run with a run in Chicago last week and its New York premiere this weekend. It’s a lighter approach applied to a culture war battle with somewhat less urgency, but its own less-than-optimistic implications.

Jacobs finds an unwitting star in Richard Gazowsky, second-generation pastor of the Voice of Pentecost church in San Francisco, and the would-be director of Gravity: The Shadow of Joseph, an epic evangelical sci-flick to which he and his churchgoers have devoted their lives and sunk their savings. Gazowsky calls his “studio” WYSIWYG –– that is, “What you see is what you get”; though Richard explains that the name has something to do with battling the “cliques” of both Hollywood and other religious sects, this is one of many instances in which Gazowsky offers a ramble that seems to insufficiently explicate his case. Regardless, under the auspices of WYSIWYG, Gazowsy has assembled a crew that’s an uneasy blending of enthusiastic Craig’s List-sourced amateurs, devout family members/parishioners — none of whom have any experience with filmmaking — and non-believing professional technicians drawn in by the scope of Richard’s vision. Jacobs follows, patiently and without apparent intervention, as Gazowsky leads his clan from pre-production in San Francisco to a disastrous five-day shoot in Italy, then back home, where WYSIWYG sets up shop in a film studio on Treasure Island and ultimately refuse to leave, even after the city has shut off their power for non payment of rent. So basically, it’s just like any indie film production, except that any problem large or small is ameliorated with the faith that “God will save us all.”

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