John J. Schafer and Tom Bancroft directed the new hand-drawn animated feature Light of the World, which opens in theaters on September 5th (John’s birthday). They hope audiences, especially families, respond well to their portrayal of the story of Christ, successfully made outside the major studio system. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: John, I know this has been a passion project for you guys for a long time, as well as for everyone at The Salvation Poem Project. How does it feel to have this movie be made, it look as good as it does, and to get it in theaters to kick off the fall movie season?

John J. Schafer: Tom and I are so proud of this movie. We’re so excited about how it turned out. If you knew the journey of production alone, it has exceeded our expectations in a lot of areas. We can’t wait for audiences to see this around the country and around the world.

Tom Bancroft: While this is my 14th feature film premiere of a film I’ve worked on, because of my Disney years, as Schwarzenegger would say, “This time it’s personal!” (laughs) This one means a lot. I’m so excited about this film coming out.

JM: Tom, I interviewed your brother Tony Bancroft in 2020 for “Animal Crackers”. You guys love animation, storytelling and putting your hearts and souls into these projects.

TB: I love animation. And I’ve been in the industry for almost 35 years now. But when John came to me, he had already started working on the film and he needed some help directing this film. It was the dream I didn’t know I was dreaming, honestly. Telling the story of Jesus Christ. And then he said, “We want to do it in 2D.” I was hooked. There’s been so many mini-miracles that have happened during the production of this film.

JM: It’s the story of Christ from the perspective of John. And for you, John, how did you want to show his curiosity and how he’ll learn so much of the emotional truths. The way you show all of that is very grounded and effective.

JS: There are a lot of historians and theologians who believe that the disciples were in their upper teens, with Peter probably being the oldest in the 20-24 range. We thought, “If John is the youngest, and we kind of bring him down to the 13 age, this is in the Jewish culture a boy coming into adulthood.” This is a coming of age film. When he first meets Jesus, he has no idea who he is. When we made this film, we made it for everyone… we made it for people who had no concept. If no one had a concept of Jesus or The Bible, how can we introduce it in such a way and they can learn about him? But also if those who do know the story of Jesus, how can we tell it in a refreshing way? We really feel like John is the audience.

JM: And there are a lot of excellent conversations. Tom, a lot of it works because of the voice performances and the approach to the dialogue.

TB: Thanks for noticing that. We wanted to show Jesus as both human and part God. Seeing that wonder through John’s viewpoint of meeting him and knowing who he is… and then slowly but surely believing it… They’ve been waiting for the Messiah in this culture for hundreds of years. Us being able to introduce them as friends first… was super important to us. “This is why they cared about each other so much.”

JM: John, one of the other factors that works so much is that the character designs are so friendly.

JS: When we were originally doing the designs we were trying to figure out, “What does that shape and language look like?” We were studying anything about the Jewish culture.

TB: Katie Lee, our character designer, was definitely hiring people that had that European mindset. Some of them had worked on “Klaus” and other films like that. We were kind of getting this new [animation] style that we were creating at a very fast pace. (laughs) We’re very proud that it comes off as appealing and warm and characters you want to know but also have this new look.

JM: And Tom, that blends into the overall palette, which reminds me of a sunset.

TB: Oh, I love that.

JS: We sent Katie Lee and Mike Dutton, our art director, to Israel. They went into the marketplace. And the one thing they really resonated with was all the colors of the spices. [And] when you look at the color palette in India and Africa, they’re similar, of those spices. We thought the connective tissue was: If we’re gonna make a film about a savior who came for the world, what is that connective tissue we could reach at? It was the color palette, and we based it on the colors of the spices.

JM: John, this film is about believing. How do you believe in the power of animation?

JS: The power of animation, especially 2D animation, is a non-threatening form of media. This movie is the most non-threatening way of introducing the Gospel. We tell it in an engaging way. It’s entertaining. It’s funny. It’s heartfelt. But we also stay true to the Gospel. I’m hoping some little boy or girl, whether they’re in Africa or India, when they watch this film, they don’t have to go to their parents asking them, “What is a God and Savior?” We explained it all the way through this movie. And at that point, they understand what a relationship with Jesus is. That’s our real goal.

JM: And Tom, you make certain decisions about what to show and what moments not to show, in terms of intensity? Difficult conversations… knowing you’re going after a family audience?

TB: Yeah. So much. So many moments. Honestly, when you hear the story of Christ, you know how it’s gonna end. It’s a terrible, bloody ending. We knew we were gonna go there. We knew we had to go there. There’s no way we’re not gonna show the torment — what he went through. We had to be very careful about how we showed that. By the way, the day we heard we got a PG rating, we were so excited. We needed that strong moment at the end. If we did our job right, we’re hearing real tears. People are crying at that moment. We want that, but in a very gentle way.