Phil Gioja partnered with Isaac Musgrave to produce a feature length documentary titled The Phoenix: Hope is Rising, a film about a scrappy start-up ministry reaching out to the homeless in the Champaign-Urbana area.

This film is about an hour and 20 minutes long, showing how the ministry was started by a woman who sold everything and lived in a homeless shelter out of her backpack, and literally captured the attention of the entire community of Champaign-Urbana with her fundraisers and other awareness efforts.

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Throughout the film, the ministry struggles with the threat of demolition hanging over their drop-in center, zoning issues, the deaths of some of the first people the ministry reached out to, and a lack of volunteers as they try to keep the door open and love those who are most challenging to love.

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The film also talks about the various reasons for homelessness, such as addictions, loss of work, illegal behaviors, and mental illness. A formerly homeless chainsaw artist discusses his experience of living in an abandoned restaurant refrigerator, and we cover the story of a woman who was living on a bench for several months, then disappears… along with the bench.

Currently we’re in the process of putting together a series of additional screenings in the area, as well as sending it out to film festivals, and looking into our distribution options.

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