Films of Beauty
Stories of Hope
Mission Statement
Messenger Films utilizes the universal language of cinema to create films of beauty and hope while mentoring emerging filmmakers who share our passion for inspirational storytelling.
Endorsements
As Chief Distribution Officer at Angel Studios, I've had the privilege of witnessing the exceptional talent of filmmakers from around the world. Among them, Cristóbal Krusen stands out with his artistic depth and global sensitivity. His films, rooted in his multicultural upbringing and extensive education, spanning from Harvard to NYU in literature and film, are more than just visual experiences - they are journeys into the heart of humanity. From his early work in Latin America to the critically acclaimed Final Solution and Sabina K., Cristóbal's films transcend boundaries and speak to a global audience. He has an ability to tell profound stories that touch hearts and inspire change. Investing in Cristóbal's work means investing in films that leave an indelible mark on the world.
Jared Geesey
Chief Distribution Officer, Angel StudiosCristóbal Krusen's feature-film career has been bookended thus far by two very fine works of art, 2002's Final Solution, set against the backdrop of apartheid in South Africa, and the award-winning Sabina K. (2015), a gorgeously shot and sensitively-scripted film steeped in the racio-religious tensions of post-war Bosnia. Both films are based on true stories depicting how faith in Christ has transformed lives. And that is what is really at the heart of Krusen's work: the truth of human experience in connection to the eternal, and a profound affection for the purest ways in which cinema helps us approach and apprehend truth.
Greg Wright
Film Critic, South King MediaI was moved and inspired by Cris Krusen’s movie, Final Solution. His ability as a writer and director is rare and I have no doubt the Lord has many more fruitful years ahead of him. When a filmmaker can engage viewers the way Cris does, lives will be changed.
Alex Kendrick
Writer/Director/Actor Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous, War RoomI am a great admirer of the film work of Cristóbal Krusen. He is a “world Christian” with the eye of an artist and the heart of an evangelist. His films consistently demonstrate a deep compassion for others as well as a great passion to bring them the Good News through film.
Josh D. McDowell
Author/Speaker
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The October Messenger from Cris Krusen
“I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. You have only a little strength, yet you […]
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Favorite Quotes
All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster's autobiography.
Federico Fellini
Prefer what intuition whispers in your ear to what you have done and redone ten times in your head.
Robert Bresson
You can have a thousand consultants, but if you want a successful film find the favor of God.
David Yates
Perhaps our capacity to create is evidence that we ourselves were created in the image and likeness of God.
Andrei Tarkovsky
Declare his glory among the nations; his marvelous deeds among all people.
1 Chronicles 16:24
The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.
Johann Sebastian Bach
… Give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…
Isaiah 61:3
My films must let every man, woman, and child know that God loves them, that I love them, and that peace and salvation will become a reality only when they all learn to love each other.
Frank Capra
My ministry has been to make religious movies and to get more people to read the Bible than anyone else ever has.
Cecil B. DeMille
I am just a simple man, standing alone with my old brushes, asking God for inspiration.
Peter Paul Rubens
I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Isaiah 49:6
I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.
Albert Einstein
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1
Art lost its basic creative drive the moment it was separated from the glory of God.
Ingmar Bergman
Tones sound and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.
Ludwig van Beethoven
God is really another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.
Pablo Picasso
God is truth and light his shadow.
Plato
The darker the night, the brighter the stars, The deeper the grief, the closer is God!
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations… and be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew
I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Stephen Grellet
Man is a fallen god who remembers the heavens.
Alphonse de Lamartine
At the moment of commitment, the entire universe conspires to assist you.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Casting is sixty-five percent of directing.
John Frankenheimer
More than ninety percent of directing a picture is the right casting.
Martin Scorsese
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
Aristotle
Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!
Genesis 1:31
Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have someone click the shutter.
Ansel Adams
You walk in, plant yourself squarely on both feet, look the other fella in the eye, and tell the truth.
James Cagney
The best actors don’t let the wheels show.
Henry Fonda
A film is – or should be – more like music than fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings.
Stanley Kubrick
Tell your own story, and you will be interesting. Don't get the green disease of envy. Don't be fooled by success and money. Don't let anything come between you and your work.
Louise Bourgeois
Cinema should make you forget you’re sitting in a theatre.
Roman Polanski
That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.
John 17:21
I am suspicious of Christian art because it lacks realism.
Bono
Hollywood cares about money and many Christians care only about evangelism. I think God also cares a lot about the excellence of our art and craftsmanship. I must be in the minority on this, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
Dick Staub
In order to win a man to your cause, you must first reach his heart, the great high road to his reason.
Abraham Lincoln
I try to catch and convey the idea that we have a soul and that the soul is in contact with God. That's the first thing I want to accomplish in my films.
Robert Bresson
A god who let us prove his existence would be an idol.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I should be sorry if I only entertained them, I wish to make them better.
George Frideric Handel
For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but the will of him who sent me… For this is the will of My Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
Jesus in the Gospel of John
Throughout the world sounds one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me the chance to do my very best.
Karen Blixen
A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.
Paul Cézanne
Lord, let me always desire more than I think I can do.
Michelangelo
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart…
Ecclesiastes 3:11
I have a terrible need of – dare I say the word? – religion. Then I go out at night to paint the stars...
Vincent van Gogh
Many filmmakers consider themselves emissaries of one sort or another. I am a missionary filmmaker and my passion is to make known the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Cristóbal Krusen
Don't tell me what I'm doing; I don't want to know.
Federico Fellini
My only objective is to paint a Christ so moving that those who see him will be converted.
Georges Rouault
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood…
Daniel Burnham
He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.
Attributed to Francis of Assisi
Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7
Cinema is universal, beyond flags and borders and passports.
Alejandro González Iñárritu
I would travel down to hell and wrestle a film away from the devil if it was necessary.
Werner Herzog
We don’t make movies to make more money. We make money to make more movies.
Walt Disney
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news…
Isaiah 52:7
Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.
Alfred Hitchcock
A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.
Orson Welles
I try to push ideas away, and the ones that will not leave me alone are the ones that ultimately end up happening.
J. J. Abrams
I don’t try to guess what a million people will like. It’s hard enough to know what I like.
John Huston
Being an artist means not having to avert one’s eyes.
Akira Kurosawa
My heart is stirred by a noble theme… my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.
Psalm 45:1
You have to be able to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks.
George Lucas
Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
I have no interest in art that is sub-cultural, created for the sake of an enclave. I’m interested in art that is made for the life of the world.
James K. A. Smith
When everything gets answered, it's fake.
Sean Penn
Instead of relying on star names, we pinned our faith in stories that had something to say.
Stanley Kramer
We, by our arts may be called the grandsons of God.
Leonardo da Vinci
When I grow up, I want to be a child.
Cristóbal Krusen
Films are like dreams, and storytelling in films cannot be expected to follow a predictable pattern.
Cristóbal Krusen
A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.
Jean-Luc Godard
A wide screen just makes a bad film twice as bad.
Samuel Goldwyn
All artists are equal when they are themselves.
Federico Fellini
Before you say ‘Cut’, wait five more seconds.
Wim Wenders
The process of filmmaking is so difficult, there’s no point in doing it unless you can do it the way you want.
Peter Capaldi
A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.
Orson Welles
I thought drama was when the actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.
Frank Capra
Don't tell me what I'm doing; I don't want to know.
Federico Fellini
When I looked at life through the camera, I felt I could finally see.
Katherine Howe
You have to live spherically - in many directions. Never lose your childish enthusiasm and things will come your way.
Federico Fellini
A movie is a little like a question, and when you make it, that’s when you get the answer.
Francis Ford Coppola
Good directors don’t answer questions with their work. They generate debate and create discussion.
Alejandro González Iñárritu
"I have the joy of storytelling in me. I would invent anything if necessary to help you rise above your existence into the realm of something sublime, something horrifying, something of great beauty."
Werner Herzog
How else but through a broken heart / May Lord Christ enter in?
Oscar Wilde
The negative is the score; the print is the performance.
Ansel Adams
The only thing an actor has to offer a director and finally an audience is his instinct. That's all.
Spencer Tracy