I’m sipping my hazelnut coffee and sitting down to reflect with all of you. I have had a rollercoaster of exciting highs and sad lows as is life. Last Thursday I headed to CA on one of the first real vacations in recent memory. It was a trip to Disneyland which I’ve never been to. I’ve only been to Disney World as a child a few times since we had grandparents in Florida. Just before leaving I heard from a dear friend that his father was moved into end of life care. His father was more than just a friend’s father. He was the head of the family that babysat me when I was young up until five years of age. But they stayed lifelong friends with our family and I recall many pool trips and New Year’s Eve parties in the 70’s with music, drinks, laughter and games. I will say goodbye this week. The morning of Disney I saw that one of our actors from SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA (SNIS) had beat stage 4 cancer! A few hours later I discovered that another amazing actor Garry Nation who had been in SNIA and a handful of other roles from CHASING THE STAR, MAN’S BEST FRIEND and HARSENS ISLAND REVENGE was moved into hospice. I dedicated that fun day to those on their way out. A reminder to never take any day for granted. The years click by and losing people is a part of life but doesn’t mean I have to like it. Like us all I still feel like I did in my youth. My immaturity dragged with me as life grows longer. I’m blessed that both my parents just had another birthday and I did as well. I am fully aware that not all people still have parents and I’m so appreciative. I’m appreciative of the good friends and family I have in my life.

The mountains that I climb as an artist have been many. It is never easy but always rewarding. There is conflict, setbacks and obstacles in all professions. I’m appreciative that I get to live my dream and I’ve sacrificed much to get to this point. I watched others achieve success professionally and personally while I struggled. But I’ve gotten to a place where I’m just steadily creating with our tribe of artists. Each one emerges into the world and is received differently. I’ve seen audiences laugh, cry and be deeply moved by our storytelling. I’ve heard from people whose life was made better by a story. I’ve had veterans shake my hand for bringing important topics to light. After much work we’re about to see three new CDI film release to the world market. We’ll discuss these and some other updates below.

CDI UPDATES:

1. Working backwards starting with AI JESUS. we’ve almost delivered all the assets and we should have home video dates by the end of the month. But some exciting news is that we’ve partnered once again with the good folks at Dreamscape Productions to once again take point on the theatrical release of the film. This film talks about the good, the bad and the ugly of technology and especially AI that is a hot topic everywhere. It has been an amazing tool but one that is causing a shift in society whereas a process or service can be done in seconds and at no real cost. This threatens many occupations as many advancements have over the last several hundred years. I’m not PRO or AGAINST certain technologies. As a storyteller working in our medium I try to responsibly work with each new technology. Before digital we shot several movies on film. Before drones we hung a camera man outside a helicopter to capture a beautiful landscape. You can’t stop advancements, evolution and change. But ignoring some business because they used AI to create a banner or poster is a little extreme for me. But everyone is allowed to have their feelings on something and I respect that. But this film also examines what AI may or may not do to religion. It is a very deep film but wrapped in a lighthearted comedy very much like the O’GOD films from past years. But it does mix in a little WAR GAMES vibe also from many years ago. It will go to theaters for a while before it hits streaming and DVD. We will explore a premiere for this film soon. Also consider a watch on CDI’s THE QUEST TRILOGY of films. That being FORTY NIGHTS, CHASING THE STAR and THE CHRIST SLAYER. Follow our FB page!
2. ROM COMS MUST DIE – The new home video poster has been released and the film is continuing its pop up tour of theatrical and a few brew N views. The next looks to be in Lansing, MI at the Midtown Brewery on August 28th. That will get locked in next week. I would like to see a few specialty drinks and I think this will be a fun romp. The DVD and streaming release on 10/2/26 and that will be exciting also. We hope to announce a few more Aug/Sept theatrical screenings once we are past the Summer glut of studio films. I will continue to give a few special media sneak peeks as we get closer to the home video release. The response so far has been great! A dark comedy dipping into horror that makes fun of our own independent film industry. If you like to laugh CDI has had a few great comedies and some films just have really funny moments. Check out BEST YEARS GONE, BIGFOOT, UFOS and JESUS for a few good laughs.
3. WILD FAITH CHRISTMAS – One of the most exciting releases for me is the follow up to WILD FAITH. That film pulled a large audience, tens of millions who loved the characters and the world. We tried to launch a season 1 TV show but anywhere the money lingered also loss of creative control also lingered. So we made a second feature film and what a beautiful film it is. The TV series has been updated to take place after the second film but I expect many of the same roadblocks but maybe not. But I will say that the 3rd feature film working title WF3 is underway. One of the biggest responses I got from people having just seen film 2 was when will film 3 come out. We will do either a 3rd film or the TV series…or both! But I am very excited to release this second one. It might go into a few theaters again on the 2026 Christmas run up. But 11/3/2026 is the DVD and streaming release and the tens of millions of fans can finally see the film. We don’t control the theaters that will play our films. The owners are starting to see the value of independent films again so maybe that will help theaters and filmmakers. Go and watch the original and get ready for another adventure.

DEVELOPMENT– When the going was good we really put the pedal down on the production slate hence why we have three films releasing this year. We at CDI entered into an exciting project called DEVIL’S PASS working with a writer/company that I’ve admired for a few years. Along with our friends at McGraw Multimedia we’ve been putting everything together. There has been a few parts of the process that went a tad slower due to multiply parties but we’ve worked out each and every issue. The bank account opened last week and I’m wrangling to get all the committed funds into the account. Everything follows an order of business and I like being ahead of schedule versus playing catch up. It is hard when everyone wants everything done ASAP. But we have an incredible team of cast and crew that is almost complete. I’ve been rather uncomfortable growing out this facial hair to play this next role. But it’s the way every film and acting role has developed. Step by step. Layer by layer.

RETURN TO ALGONA – the follow up to SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA our WW2 film is in development. We’ve started talking with sponsors and we’ll soon be also talking to investors. I was further inspired watching BAND OF BROTHERS in full finally. Again our film looks at the changes from the 40’s to the 60’s. My goal is to try and have all our commits to fund by the end of the year. We would film in Nov of next year if we can achieve our goal. If you have interest in supporting this film feel free to reach out. We have over half the funding committed.

Again, I could go on about Development as that is always underway. But I only like to discuss when things start to become solid. But this is the years of work behind the scenes by producers that never gets seen. Many show up on set ready to film but don’t understand the time it took. Countless hours that can result in nothing or in a new story coming into the world. I hope I can keep doing this until late in life. Family, friends and films.

WRAP UP – We came back from beautiful CA weather to humidity. As if that wasn’t enough, add wildfire smoke. I was ready for a good soccer match last Thursday but the league cancelled all games. That is a good thing with how bad the smoke was. The plants have been growing well in the heat and humidity. The chickens have enjoyed the property with lots of shade and areas to keep cool. I hope the smoke stays away so we can play our soccer match this week and our make up game too. Today we have the flea market down the road and so I’ll be stopping down to see if I can find any character items. I love slowly pulling together all that. I’m going to go get after a few eggs. I hope you all have/had an enjoyable restful weekend. I had calls right up to 6 pm on Friday and was ready to rest my brain. I will be ready to attack my TO DO’s for next week and give everything I do my very best effort. So until we speak again next week I hope you all have a wonderful productive week ahead.

Coffee Cheers! DJ