NUDIST PASTOR FILM WINS BIG
The 7th annual Award This! ceremony has taken place at The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, CA and among the nominees for best of indies in all of 2025, was one near and dear to my heart, “Naked as Created: The Pastor Jim Moore Story”, a naturist biopic about the real-life man. An article detailing the trials and tribulations of shooting that movie during the hellacious Eaton fires was in N magazine issue 44.2 titled Against All Odds. To combine authentic nudism and faith-based spirituality was no easy task and for it to be promoted and received by peers was amazing. Up until this event it had only a few public screenings mostly at nudist resorts, but it did play for a few reviewers. The organization that puts on the award show every year is Film Threat, a unique voice for indie films and an industry staple. They have a mission to champion independent films across a multitude of diverse categories to bring awareness to the growing number of exceptional indies available on DVD, VOD, and streaming services.
Film Threat recognizes these films each year with this ceremony hosted by actors, comedians and critics, and the celebration continues at a huge afterparty. Our feature was nominated in two categories: WTF (as your kids what that stands for) and also for Best Low Budget Indie. I’d been nominated twice before for my nudist comedy “The Nudels of Nudeland” which was reviewed in N magazine issue 41.4, that year even with two nominations we left empty handed. Following year in 2024 I won Best Indie Horror for my film Hell’s Coming For You and I’d only had the one nomination that year so theres no rhyme or routine to the voting at these things. This time I was back with two nominations and supporting from my team was the director/co-writer Mark Savage, Art director and actress Melody Munson, my sister Tiffany Kephart, and myself who co-wrote, produced, cast, and acted in it. Many B level celebrities were there and after the red carpet media treatment we settled in for the show with our fingers crossed. Documenting the occasion was Casey Suchran and Pete Alton from September Club. You see there’s been a documentary filming me for over a year leading up to the release of my magnum opus nudist monster movie “Naked Alien Massacre” and this was part of the story.
Earlier that day Savage and I had recorded the commentary track for the upcoming blu-ray release. My sister’s presence was very special as we hadn’t seen each other in around 18 years. Family trauma and abuse had kept us apart but maturity and the holidays finally made me reach out and our reconnection was covered by the doc crew as well adding more emotional depth to the event. The first of the two categories was the WTF section for films not easy to define and I suppose a nudist preacher film doesn’t easily fit in a box anywhere (as I discovered when I screened it for buyers at the American Film Market in November) so we waited as clips from the various nominee’s movies were played and even with a tie announced ours was not one of the winners. It was a disappointed, but I sat back in my chair eager for our last opportunity for an award. That came a few announcements later in the show when they read off the possible winners and remember this is the best out of literally thousands of indie films made outside of the studio system.
We are all original fresh voices making our own rules for good or for bad. When the emcee for the evening spoke of how major motion pictures are backed by billions of dollars versus how us indie guys have to make do with what we can put together often on a shoe-string budget, next to nothing he then read off the nominees and when our film was announced as the ultimate winner I hopped up beaming. Savage, Melody, and I all made our way to the stage with the music playing and audience applauding. I took the glass trophy in my right hand and took the mic at the podium; amongst other things, I said proudly, “We did it!” Then Melody Munson, herself a regular nudescaster at Clothesfree.com screamed, “A win for nudists!” Indeed, although my demeaner and style may not ingratiate myself with everyone my achievements in forwarding how distributors and the filmmaking industry at large look at naturist content has been forever changed by my refusal to take no for an answer or walk away. I’m a body-positive nudist activist who makes movies. In that order and after this one comes out I’ve already got two more in the post-production edit for screening by Halloween. Buckle up nudie fans theres so much more on the way. Same for nudist Christian films as the production company Genesis 225 has more planned as well.
The future is bright for nudist cinema thanks to your support and passion. The entire awards show with my acceptance speech can be found on YouTube under searching: “Film Threat Award This 2026” and you’ll find as well, the red carpet video too. The movie will be released on all digital platforms and in physical Blu-ray/DVD by Motion Picture Exchange and X4 Films coming out later this year starting overseas as the attitudes on nudity are more favorable over there. Pastor Jim and I will be holding film screenings with Q and A portions upon request at churches across the USA.
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