There’s more to smart film marketing than a dog, but they always help. Image: Hachi – a Dog’s Tale.
Religious films were popular from the dawn of filmmaking as Milies made Christ Walking on Water in 1898 and started a genre based on Joan of Arc. Melbourne claims the world’s first narrative drama with Soldiers of the Cross, made by the Salvation Army’s Limelight Films in 1901, which combined slides and fragments of film. According to Pamela Grace in “The Religious Film: Christianity and the Hagiopic”, religious presentations advanced the notion of film storytelling because they could be complex, relying on audiences who knew the story and wanted emotional surrender.