Produced by Melbourne based production company Australian Christian Multimedia, 'An Innocent Man?' re-imagines the original Easter story in a modern-day context, bringing a sense of freshness to an old story. The events are recalled through television interviews with the story's main characters.
Allowing us access to the Government's inner sanctum, Pilate speaks candidly about his role. Pilate believes his decision to execute Jesus should have been the end of the matter - instead the number of crises mount, culminating in a political scandal which could potentially bring down the Government!
We also hear from other key figures, including John Caiaphas (Leader of the Opposition), Tim Matthews (Commissioner of Jerusalem Police), and self-made multimillionaire, Joseph Arimathea.
Melbourne Producer Phil Smith received special permission to film inside Victoria's Parliament House for key dramatic scenes for the program.
Australian Christian Multimedia was the winner of CTA's Program Development Prize which was set up to encourage new producers to create compelling Christian programming.
"We had over twenty applications from producers around Australia," said CTA's CEO, Martin Johnson. "We chose 'An Innocent Man?' because its dramatic structure was quite different to other programs CTA had produced. Re-telling the Easter story using modern-day television interview techniques really works and we are very excited at the final result," Martin said.
Australian Christian Multimedia recruited Melbourne based actors to play the key roles and local production company Orsino Media to shoot and edit the program.
"CTA have had a great connection with Channel 7 for many, many years. I thank them for opening this opportunity up to other creative people, and essentially sharing their unique access to a commercial TV network," said Producer Phil Smith.
An Innocent Man?' will screen on the Seven Network at 3pm on Good Friday, April 6. (Check local guides) It also airs on the Australian Christian Channel at 11am and 9.30pm on Easter Sunday, April 8th.
A short preview video clip of the program is on the CTA Web site: www.christiantelevision.org.au