Hellfire attacks during Christian Nudist Film
Well, it’s me. It’s him. It’s T.I.M. The month of January 2025 has been a whirlwind of highs and unexpected lows, and I mean that literally. Some may know I was set to film my first feature project of the year. Unfortunately, it came with a story, and I don’t mean just your typical everyday indie project woes. I’m talking about being in the middle of one of the worst fires in United States history and still finishing the movie.
So, I’m going to attempt to tell you the story here:
It’s January 6th, and we are set to do production on a movie that we spent months in advance to prepare: Naked and Unashamed… As God Intended: The Pastor Jim Moore Story.
For a project of this magnitude, it was not easy to finally get to the point of filming. People don’t realize how difficult it can be to raise funds for an indie film, and not just any indie film but a story about a nudist pastor. A nudist who was a textile Pastor of a multifaceted congregation with various church facilities and locations at one point. One day, he was approached by a member of the congregation who wanted help in dealing with a nudist family member. Jim and his wife, Kim, then set out to investigate and read scriptures to see what the Bible said about non-sexual body positivity on naturism. Not as a kink, not as a fetish, or even something sexual, but just being comfortable in one’s own skin. Rather than being rash to judgment, they explored and came to believe that if God is for it, they are for it. They found that not only is it not called out and villainized in the Bible, but it’s championed in many ways. It is celebrated as a creation of God and not to be ashamed of.
So here we are. Doing a movie, in general, is hard enough, but a movie on Christianity and adding naturism to it. Do we shoot it with full frontal nudity or not? It’s not a sexual project, nor does it have violence. Of course, it would cause problems in America when it came to distribution. But screw it; we were filming this movie, one way or another. As writer and producer of this movie, we raised funds from various donors (Moose Bear Limited which is a Lisa Ann & Jesse Berain company; the writer R.B. Mears; film historian Paul Atreides) among the many willing to support the cause, most donations came in anywhere from $30 to $1,500 on the lower side. A few felt guided by their hearts or god or both and put in much more to make filming a reality.
The best part is when I was at AFM, the American Film Market (did you read the piece I did on this, if not check it out here: https://www.firstcomicsnews.com/american-film-market-rocks-the-palms-in-las-vegas/ ) representing as production company Genesis225 Films I was able to negotiate with a major distribution studio a three picture slate of nudist Christian movies with the right of first refusal (ROFR). So, we are off to a good start on making that a reality, and it’s only January. Only two more movies to go and then an advanced screening at the beginning of 2026 to get a buyout, or at least for them to consider it strongly.
The initial plan was to fly in the talent by January 5th, and shooting days would start January 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th. We would take the 11th off and then come back on the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th. Everyone would then drive or fly home on the 17th. The movie was fully cast, had a full crew, the script was written, and we had insurance and locations. All the bells and whistles one needs to shoot a movie for principal photography.
So far, everything was going according to plan. We gathered most troops on the 5th‒I rented a 13-passenger shuttle to pick up the people from LAX‒at a nudist bed and breakfast resort, Arroyo del Sol, which is a part of the Clothing Optional Home Network in Altadena, CA, I booked. The place was amazing. There were houses, but it also had an RV that sleeps six people, a hot tub, and a heated swimming pool. There was a gourmet breakfast in the mornings, but we also had a stocked kitchen. We had bought over a grand in camping supplies, bedding, linens, and pillows. The troops rallied, and we had a pow-wow. We were ready to rock ‘n’ roll. Tomorrow was the first day of shooting.
Filming for the first three days would be at a soundstage in Sylmar called 4 Hearts Studios. The cast and crew would work 12-hour days, and then we would film two days at the resort. Then, the one day off when people could either explore the neighborhood of California or soak in the heated pool or hot tub, have a drink, eat some barbecue, frolic naked in the grass, and sleep under a tree or whatever they wanted. Then, back to filming. We would continue to film the next three days at the resort, followed by two days at the last sound stage, Skandia Hall, to shoot our church scenes.
The first day of shooting went smoothly; it was great. We got a lot of wonderful footage to use. A caterer was on set, and everybody was ironing out the kinks and learning the script and their characters. A new line producer was brought in at the last minute. She was on point and did great with call sheets and contracts. Hair and makeup, costumes, continuity, script supervising, art direction, and props all came together. I want to highlight Melody Munson for going above and beyond to make a lot of that happen; she was a blessing. Overall, it was a typical day in indie movie making.
There was even Dan Hawkins, whose pen name is DH Jonathan. He’s a nudist writer of many books and a very powerful activist. His son, Elijah, came along and helped out with the clapboard position on set, and they both were ready to help at any given moment. I also stepped in to play a side character, Blaze Constantine, a reporter. Ori Amir even involved himself. He’s a nudist, comedian, and supporter/friend of mine for a long time. He produced and put some funds toward the movie for food and camping supplies. And that is only naming a few that joined me on this journey. So, you see, everything was off to a great start.
After two full days of accomplishing our goal, this is where it goes off the rails, where it gets real.
We noticed the air was thicker at the end of day two, January 7th. I didn’t think much of it because I had other things to think about, but when we got back to the house, the news reported that a fire was in the area. Where it burned was an inferno. The dry brush was getting eaten up like the fire hadn’t eaten in days. The winds were picking up, and the news station reported 20-30 mph winds, with some areas reporting 70-80 mph winds. It may not seem bad, but when a fire is cooking, it’s a recipe for a perfect combination to a disaster.
Houses and businesses were burning to ash, and people’s lives were threatened. It was insane. At this point, it was nighttime, and stepping out onto our balcony, we saw a wall of flames licking the sky and moving closer to the house. The news reported that the Palisades was hit first, and about an hour later, the Eaten Fire started, which is close to Altadena. Where we were!
People started panicking and getting scared, for a moment I did too, because what do we do? What is there to do? R.B. Mears and I started discussing how to handle the situation to keep everybody comfortable and safe. One of our lead actresses, Keight Leighn, had a friend who lived in California, so she was rescued, as she put it, and stayed with them. Sadly, that area got evacuated too as the fires kept attacking all over California. Some said they should stick it out at the resort, not leave; and see what happens because it was a normal thing that occurred from time to time. At this point, it wasn’t as big as it would get. Sirens were sounding all around the city, and firefighters were heading to control the fire. It was a wait-and-see scenario.
I noticed the fire was moving closer, so I made the decision that we should leave. It wasn’t safe. It’s better to be safe than sorry. As we were leaving, a giant gust came through and uprooted a tree. It landed near the pool, crushing the deck loungers that Melody and Chris Mudwalker had peacefully slept on the night before. Chris Mudwalker is a social media-influencing nudist Bible scholar who has a popular YouTube channel, and Patreon where he talks about nudism in the Bible. Hearts racing, we climbed into the shuttle, leaving our cars behind, and found a hotel closest to the sound stage. The thought process was that we could go straight to the sound stage and continue to shoot in the morning, putting the nightmare behind us.
After dropping off the folks, R.B. and I decided to head back and collect the items left behind. But we were met with walls of fire on both sides of the freeway. Huge infernos of fire, like literal Hell lava, just destroying its surroundings. One of the crew then called me and said they lost power and another fire was nearby. It seemed like no matter where we went, there was a fire. What were our options?
We headed back and picked them up, then went back to the house. Debris and trees were all over the ground. We really had no idea what to do; we knew that if they initiated an evacuation order, then the freeways would be clogged, and people would be fighting each other to get to safety; it would be pure chaos. So, we decided to stick it out at the house and pray that we wouldn’t need to evacuate. Because what else was there to do; we were scheduled to shoot a movie that had a lot of money tied up into it.
At 3:30 in the morning, an alarm went off on our phones. The evacuation was immediate. Scrambling, we grabbed everyone who was behind. Lisa and I (with Ori) got in our cars and left, and the rest of them got into the shuttle and left. On the 210 freeway, there were multiple lanes of traffic with trees flying past. I got hit by not one, but two trees, which caused damage to my driver’s side mirror. Black soot and ash were everywhere. There was either fire, darkness, horrible wind, or soot and ash. That was all we could see.
I had only one option at the time: to call a close friend, who is an amazing body-positive writer, producer, and hypnotist, Grant Offenberger, at 4 am in the morning. He said yes, so at 5-5:30 am, we all showed up at his house in Chino Hills, California, where it was safe enough from the fires. We had been up most of the night, hadn’t slept, and were scared, but we made room in their garage. The joys of indie filmmaking, right?
A handful of us headed to a local restaurant, Denny’s, and discussed our next moves. Where do we go from here? How do we make it work? Financially, our money was tied up into things we couldn’t use now like the resort and a sound stage, and we found out later that we wouldn’t be able to let us shoot there. Nor refund us. We were in a tight spot. Everyone was also worried about the belongings left behind, important things. I had left the ashes of my sweet, deceased cat, who had passed away. It was in a glass-blown jewelry from a nudist friend of TNSF, Chrissy Nixon’s company. I love that cat, he’s, my family. So, there was a lot of emotion to process.
Hotels were crowded due to people who had lost their homes in the fire. A member of our crew, her aunt, lost her house. A friend of a friend of mine lost her son. The fire was still raging with no end in sight. Firefighters were trying to combat the flames, but fire hydrants were drying up. Helicopters flew overhead, trying to help contain it, but the wind made it hard for them to do so safely. And people were adding to the craziness. Looters and arsonists were adding to the fire, making it worse. Cars abandoned on the roads destroyed by the city bulldozing to create a path for the firefighters. It was complete madness. Like right out of a movie. The irony.
The decision was to get multiple hotel rooms, and because we didn’t want to lose sight of our goal, we would ebb our way through indie filmmaking even in disaster. We turned one of the rooms into a hospital room, an office space, and bedroom scenes for the movie. We snuck our camera crew and sound and lighting in through the back door because we would have to ask permission, plus they may think it’s a sex film with the nudity, and we didn’t want to risk them saying no. We were shooting a nudist movie, but they probably would assume it was porn or something awful. The tension was higher than usual because of the situation, but we made the most of the day.
Then we were blindsided again when tragedy hit our lead actress, who is a nudist activist for body positivity and an all-around amazing person, Sarah Woodson, who goes by Just Nekid Sarah, was rushed to the hospital. Her asthma flared up with the bad air quality, and her levels were operating at like 50% CO2. She could barely talk, and it was awful. Unfortunately, we had to fly her out of California because of insurance and doctor issues. Sarah couldn’t stay in the movie but got a cameo. A clothed cameo (boo!) but a cameo, nonetheless.
Now, we have a new dilemma. Who the hell do we replace her with? How? We can’t just plug any actress in. 1.) Financially, we have a budget allocated for the people we have, and 2.) She needs to be okay with full nudity and can’t be tied to Only Fans or dabble in anything sexual. The movie has a purpose; we don’t want to distract from that. We kicked around some ideas, and ultimately, we decided on none other than Jim Moore’s real-life daughter, Rachael Moore, who knows the story better than anyone because she lived through it as a little girl. She was perfect for the role. So, we called her up and asked for her help. She was willing but was caring for a family member who had some issues. After discussing and evaluating the cost, she joined the team with her family member in tow. It was a Moore family affair getting this project put on film.
We were back on track. It was incredibly meta to cast of nudist activists playing nudist activists in a movie. The fun thing about roles like this is that people tend to think others have to be convinced to get naked or be paid extra to do the part. But no! My people are nudists. They chose to be naked. They’re happy and excited to be themselves on camera and don’t have to hide and wear your stupid textiles. Not having to worry about the culture or money and how much something costs. Like me, people don’t care about that. My people, my tribe, are proud to be nudists, and they’re happy to be all-natural. And why should they be ashamed?
While we waited for Rachael’s plane to arrive, we shot at Grant’s home with a bunch of family footage with actor kids who were all clothed, and everybody on set was clothed during that. It was awkward enough to explain what we were filming and now it is during a fire tragedy and with non-nudist kids we wanted to be comfortable for all parties. When she arrived, she worked on rehearsing her lines to be off-book and then filmed a scene with Chris Mudwalker. Things were starting to come together nicely amid all the chaos and displacement.
Another issue arose: where do we film the resort scenes? We can’t cheat those at a hotel or friend’s home. I attempted to reach out to Glen Eden Sun Club again, but Glen Eden kept letting me down. A lot of resorts get weird when it comes to filming, and no matter what my lifetime memberships to AANR, TNSF, SCNA, or clothesfree.com, it’s still not good enough, I guess. Everybody always suggests to me for filming places like Cypress Cove, Star Ranch, and Glen Eden, but they don’t come through when I reach out to them. Stick-in-the-muds all of them. They’re not willing to work with me.
Anyway, so I reached out to Shangri-La Ranch in Arizona instead. All managing partners, Cyndi and Patty, run it over there along with Jeff Tendick. They were willing to help us at a low price point, which worked in our favor. So, we drove six hours after working out the details of housing and scheduling to Arizona. We were making this happen. R.B. and I, along with the Moore family and our Director of Photography Mark Savage and crew were up for everything. Nothing would stop us.
Quick backstory: a documentary by September Club is being made about the process of my making unique movies, and in particular, myself, Tim Chizmar, leading up to a movie I’ve been talking about and trying to make for a long time. I wrote the script in, I think 2012. So, for roughly a decade, I’ve been trying to get Naked Alien Massacre filmed, which is a nudist horror movie. They’ve been interviewing and following me around to events, table readings, and panels at WonderCon, etc. I say this because one of the crew members, Pete, joined us at Shangri-La Ranch as he filmed behind the scenes.
Unfortunately, there was some unnecessary drama there. Despite getting approval from the owners Cyndi and Jeff Tendick, who also played a cameo in the movie, to film and have cameras, what no one knew was that Pete had a drone. At one point, a drone flies into the nudist resort. People started freaking out that it was some pervert trying to exploit all these naturist families and individuals, that it was an invasion of privacy, etc. Flipping off the drone and threatening to shoot at it. So, there was this whole moment of people angry and Cyndi wanting to call the cops, as well as people trying to figure out who it belonged to. We saw where it landed, and Jesse Berain, our Executive Producer and on-set Assistant Director, and a few others went to give Pete a piece of their mind. Ultimately, he came over and profusely apologized, and we had a chuckle about it and moved on.
When the dust settled, Pete made it up to us by using the drone to add beautiful shots of footage for the movie. Skinny dipping of a lead actress, etc. And most people at the resort were excited and wanted to be in the movie as extras. They wanted to have a line and be a part of it. That is one of the reasons I love Shangri-La. It has a great culture and community.
Here’s a funny story to lighten the mood. Pat Jankiewicz, a novelist and Marvel Comics and Fangoria writer, was also one of the crew and cast who told the documentary crew that there was no chance he would ever get naked. What Pat didn’t know was that there were rules at the resort. One of those rules is that although clothing is optional, and if you choose to wear them, go ahead, but if you want to get in the pool or hot tub, then you have to get naked. Clothes were not allowed in the water. When Pat heard that, after a long ride in the desert guess who was naked in the hot tub?
We headed back to California to film our last days. Luckily, the church location we were using still stood amongst the ruins, but the fire hadn’t finished its destructive path. There were miles upon miles of property that no longer existed. Rolf and Cynthia kept in contact with us about when we were allowed to go back to the house to get our belongings. The whole situation was just horrible. The people who died clutching their water hoses trying to put out the fire. Some people stayed behind with disabled family members, thinking they would get rescued to then only be burned together. It was horrible, unimaginable evil. As I write this now, the fires are now finally 100% contained. The Palisades had lost over 6,000 homes and businesses and burned over 23,000 acres of land. The Eaton Fire lost over 9,000 homes and businesses and took over 14,000 acres. Other fires were reported, but luckily, they were contained quickly, and damage was minimal compared to the other two fires. As I am reporting this, 29 people have lost their lives. The amount of loss for everyone involved is so vast that it will take years, if not decades, to recover what they lost. I saw cars melted into the roads where they had been parked… you get the idea.
The entire cast and crew are now home safely. Naked and Unashamed… As God Intended: The Pastor Jim Moore Story is in post-production. Editor Ben Hall is overseeing the edits, and we will put together an assembly first cut. Then, many fine touches and work but eventually we will have ourselves a finished nudist Christian movie. We shot two versions; one will be an implied nudity PG version and the other an unrated version. This film will cause serious cracks in the foundation of the purity thinking within the Christian church. It will also challenge Christians to reconsider how they see the image of God and the scriptures about Him. For more information, you can head to Genesis225.com and NakedandUnashamed.org.
The whole process had been a nightmare to get through, and people were patting me on the back at how a lot of people would’ve given up and wouldn’t have saved this production. The reality, there was no other way. We were in the process of making a movie. I had done everything to build up to this movie, so NO! I’m not going to back down. I’m not going to give up. We are finishing this movie and the next two that follow it. This happens sometimes, and you must be willing to think on your feet to find fast solutions. We are on a pilgrimage decreed by God, on a path none of us would have chosen for ourselves. To those who believe our message no answer is necessary and for those who don’t believe, no answer will do, Genesis225 films will continue to bring nudist, naturist, clothesfree tales with biblical messages even though as the literal fire of Hell may attack again and again. With God on your side, none can stop you.
Despite the fear and tragedy and the lives that were lost in the wake of this inferno, the cast and crew had a lot of laughs and prayers, and we came together as a family. Like a gypsy carnival on the road, our family leaned on each other and wrote each other notes and stayed up laughing and talking. Some strong connections came from this experience. And that’s a blessing. We were set on a path that some believed was a sign that the dark side wanted to put out our movie. That Satan was attempting to hurt what we were doing. It didn’t happen the week before or the month after but to the day we started shooting. Clearly, we were engaged in a real spiritual battle with forces that didn’t want it to be completed. But against all odds, we made it happen. We kept together. We did this. It’s in the can. As always, we appreciate the support and the word of mouth. We can’t do this without our friends, fans, and followers. I plan to finish Naked Alien Massacre; except I might spin it to make the aliens into demons and adjust it to be a bit more Christian if it’s one of the slate of three. If not, it’ll be my separate film. Either way, two more Christian films are set to be filmed this year, and we are doing it with the best of intentions and a sincere heart. And I thank you for reading this. As they say on set, that’s a wrap, folks.
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