WHY WE EXIST
“Human reason’s great capacity to know the real is grounded in, and contingent upon, the telling of stories.”
—James Matthew Wilson
art is the signature of man
As G.K. Chesterton wrote, art is about being articulate, speaking directly to the heart. Whether a painting, sculpture, play, or moving picture, art exists to reflect beauty, goodness, and truth back to the world, giving rise to an imaginative perception of reality and the vita contemplativa, the antidote to the present day confusion, degeneracy, and erosion of the foundation of our humanity — what the Greek Stoics termed prosoché: alert attention and mindfulness. Simply, the arts exist to awaken and keep alive the sense of wonder in man.
Correspondingly, the two guiding stars of the Manalive venture: our transfiguring mission: to advance the motion picture on the road to noble artistic significance by producing classic masterpieces, as well as original creations of uncommon worth; and our inspiriting vision: to elevate the art of visual storytelling and reintroduce it to the rank of a positive factor for good.
We will realize these aims through an enterprise-wide strategy of Prudence (i.e., right reason in action) and Providence (i.e., divine direction), seeking out and engaging “God’s spies” — those genuine, joyful, and truly creative persons of good will who understand the connection between our time and eternity and wholeheartedly embrace our goal of creating a nobler purpose for entertainment and directing it towards the most honorable standards and a better way of life.
Though our times are dark, the arts remain to call us to our true vocation — and to the true light of the world
“The task of the artist is to sense more keenly than others the harmony of the world, the beauty and the outrage of what man has done to it, and poignantly, to let people know. Art warms even an icy and depressed heart, opening it to lofty, personal experience. By means of art we are sometimes sent dimly, revelations unattainable by reason, like that little mirror in the fairy tales. Look into it and you will see not yourself but for a moment, that which passes understanding, a realm to which no man can ride or fly and for which the soul begins to ache.”
—Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Lecture (1970)
