Films with  big names,  familiar storylines and extravagant CGI are a must during the holidays, but a change of pace may be a wonderful novelty. The first annual San Diego Christian Film Festival is coming soon, showcasing heartfelt films stripped of distracting gift wrap, giving audiences a chance to be swept away by cinematic poetry on celluloid.

The SDCFF, supported and promoted by The Church at Rancho Bernardo, will be in full effect from Dec. 27-30 at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla.

 Connie Cragel LePere, the CRB Drama Director, is enthusiastic about the event as she said,  "CRB regularly uses various art forms in our weekly services and supports Christians using film to express themselves.  As someone who has been acting in the San Diego area for almost two decades, I am personally thrilled to see more films being produced in our city and county."

But the festival is important for reasons beyond acting, LePere said.

"As an actor who is also a Christian, this film festival means a great deal to me and to the countless other actors who believe that Jesus Christ is Lord over all things—including the movie industry," LePere said.

Richard Bagdazian, executive director of the SDCFF, is also ecstatic about the upcoming event. Bagdazian is the perfect fit to take lead of the film festival with his knowledge of film, screenwriting background, and experience in media.

"My background is in screenwriting and I led the San Diego Screenwriters Association for three years during 2002-05. During that time, I gained knowledge of the production side of the film industry, working with other screenwriters, agents and managers," Bagdazian said.

A company Bagdazian and three others founded in 2009—Glass Sea Productions, LLC—is producing the film festival, he said.

The spark to create the SDCFF was started by Bagdazian and his colleagues, as they wanted to start a film festival specifically for the Christian community.

"My colleagues and I felt that there was growing interest in films and visual media that would be of interest to the Christian community. Since there wasn't any other festival in Southern California that addressed that group using a traditional film festival production model, we felt that by establishing the San Diego Christian Film Festival we would fill a need and complement the other film festivals already established in San Diego," Bagdazian said.

This film festival will provide an opportunity for Christian filmmakers to showcase faith based filmmaking and expose the public to uplifting quality films. There are a variety of films to watch, from independent films to high production efforts. One of the many films to look out for is Cutback.

"We are very excited to have the world premiere of the movie Cutback scheduled for Dec. 28, our Youth Night. This is a film that was produced in San Diego, using some local talent and will be very popular with young people," Bagdazian said.

Bagdazian also mentioned some of the other films on the schedule, as well as some of the special guests: What If..., starring Kevin Sorbo, Debby Ryan and John Ratzenberger; The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry, starring Gavin MacLeod; and another film titled Rust, which was written and produced by Corbin Bernsen from TV shows L.A. Law and Psych.

MacLeod and Bernsen will be at the festival, he said.

A very convenient element that the SDCFF is introducing is an on-demand viewing option.

"We will have a festival bistro area where people can check out a DVD player and any of our selected films for on-demand viewing on their own schedule," Bagdazian said.

Join the members of The Church at Rancho Bernardo Drama Ministry, as they will be in attendance to enjoy the amazing films at the SDCFF.

"They have an active arts group at The Church at Rancho Bernardo and they wanted to reach out to us to support this new arts event in San Diego as it fit with their own mission to support the arts in the Christian community," Bagdazian said.

The all-access VIP festival pass is $40; $34 for seniors, students and military. The one-day festival pass is $20. For more information on tickets, family group rates, and film show times, visit the SDCFF website.