Jordan Chan, similar to every CMA student at Biola, faced his senior thesis as he entered the final semester of his undergrad. However, inspiration for his final project came through a calling from God.
Three years ago, Chan was sitting at a worship night and one of the worship leaders had a word about people who dealt with fatherlessness.
“I felt the Lord say to me, ‘You’re gonna know what the film will be about,’” Chan said. “Once I heard that, the story of a father laying down his life for his son…just came into my brain and I realized this is it. Like, this is what my generation needs to hear…The Fatherless Generation.”
From that moment on, Chan began shaping this idea into the film that would become his senior thesis. The story and script were written and rewritten until this past summer, when the branding of “The Fatherless Generation” came into effect. Chan also worked to bring “The Fatherless Generation” to more people through social media, filming and posting testimonies, talking about the film, the heart behind it, and much more.
The heart of the story had already been out on a separate Instagram account for a couple of years, with testimonials of people on how growing up fatherless impacted their lives, and how they changed when they came to Christ.
The Calder Initiative has its own website, with creative writing pieces, stories and even art. It connected to Chan’s personal clothing and skateboard brand, Calder & Creator: featuring personal-designed stickers, shirts, hats and skateboard decks. He just recently pre-released a line of decks for The Fatherless Generation, as a way to help bring more awareness to the film. Some of these decks were included in the film’s fundraiser, as an incentive to encourage more donations.
To Chan, this film is more than just his senior thesis. The film is a full-length feature, an anthology made up of six different short films. Each of these short films follows the same young man, who goes by the name of Ransom. Although these short films are different stories in different worlds, what remains the same is the main character.
Chan did this so that the audience could see how one character grew up underneath different fathering circumstances. In each of these films, Ransom grows up with an absent, physically abusive, overly strict, sexually abusive, neglectful or religiously traditional fathers or father figures.
This semester, Chan and his team are focused on producing Phase I of The Fatherless Generation. Phase I consists of three of the short films, with The Giver, the sixth and final film, comes out to be the longest in length (about 20 minutes), as its development counts for Chan’s senior thesis credit and is the main focus for his final semester. This story follows Ransom as he grows up with a father figure who, despite their living conditions, loves him. It reflects a type of prodigal son story, but with a twist: showing the audience what it means to be loved as God loved the world through Christ, with Ransom’s father sacrificing his life for Ransom, showing the ultimate change and growth in the main character. The other two films, The Rage and The Rock, are of deep importance as well, with the team allowing time to let the most focus go to The Giver and The Rage for the duration of this semester. The final three films, The Lover, The Cog, and The Warrior, are a part of Phase II – whose filming dates have yet to be determined in the next year of production.
As Biola students, it is important to be aware of fatherlessness in this world. For a non-Biola student and non-Christian, this film is meant to open one’s eyes to the brokenness of the world as a result of inadequate fathers or fatherlessness, without coming across as preaching through a religious lens.
Alongside this film, Chan hopes to form a team who will follow the crew and cast throughout the production of this feature, creating a documentary to testify to God the Father and how He continues to provide for this film, and the miraculous ways in which He does it.
Although production does not have a concrete finish in sight, Chan and his team are confident in how the Lord will continue to lead them and provide for this project, as the BTS documentary will reveal in times to come. Please visit the website, follow The Fatherless Generation’s Instagram account, and sign up for weekly emails from the team for more information.
