Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. tries to answer the many questions Adamma and Adanne Ebo have about religion.
Ahead of the Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. release on September 2, ComingSoon spoke with director and producer Adamma Ebo and producer Adamma Ebo about their upcoming movie. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Honk for Jesus offers a fresh look at a Southern Baptist megachurch through the relationship problems of pastor Lee-Curtis Childs and his first lady, Trinitie Childs.
“The film is a satirical comedy starring Regina Hall as Trinitie Childs – the proud first lady of a Southern Baptist megachurch, who together with her husband Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown), once served a congregation in the tens of thousands,” reads the synopsis. “But after a scandal forces their church to temporarily close, Trinitie and Lee-Curtis must reopen their church and rebuild their congregation to make the biggest comeback that commodified religion has ever seen.”
Tudor Leonte: I liked how your movie invites viewers to reflect on how far people are willing to push themselves for power and success. You based this story on your 2018 short film, but how did you come up with the idea to make a mockumentary in the first place?
Adamma Ebo: That’s a good question. I mean, we refer to it as like a faux documentary because the camera is not like winky or on the joke. I think a big part of it was me wanting to get a lot of answers to a lot of questions. A documentary is going to ask a lot of these questions or observe a lot of these like questionable moments. We’re also big fans of the form, of mockumentaries for sure, and info documentaries as well.
You produced a film that offers constructive criticism of religion without being too harsh on it at the same time. Do you believe there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed when dealing with religion?
Adanne Ebo: I think it depends on who you are. I think we made this type of film because we definitely had a lot of questions. We definitely had a lot of critiques, but it’s also part of us. We grew up in the church, specifically the black megachurch, Southern Baptist culture. While, like I said, a lot that we have to critique of it, we definitely also still have a certain love for it. There are things about that we still have reverence for. We decided to toe that line, but I think it depends on the type of filmmakers and the type of person that you are. I don’t think anything’s beyond critique at all.
The arc of Regina Hall’s character, Trinity, is all about forgiveness and redemption, even though her husband, isn’t exactly a role model. Would you have forgiven Lee-Curtis in Trinity’s place?
Adamma: Me? No.
Adanne: Not forgiven, but I also understand why she ends up where she ends up.
Adamma: I understand too, but I would’ve taken him for all here.
Adanne: Yeah, well, yeah.
What has been your experience with religion before Honk for Jesus?
Adanne: Our experience is we, we grew up in Atlanta, and church is everything there. We grew up in the height of like the megachurch culture, like in the early odds. Our connection with it is that, is big churches, big black churches…
Adamma: Big part of the culture.
Adanne: Big part of the culture. Also, I think there were things about it that we didn’t quite jive with from a very early age. We’ve been questioning the institution of it for a very long time.
Is there anything at all you’ll bring from Honk for Jesus to the upcoming Mr. And Mrs. Smith series?
Adamma: Weirdness.
Adanne: [The Mr. And Mrs. Smith series] is weird. It’s weird.
