We Believe in Dinosaurs

The Bible and science collide amid the battleground of a Kentucky creationism museum.

Gods word vs mans word with dinosaur replica
Series
Independent Lens
Premiere Date
February 17, 2020
Length
90 minutes
Headshot of The Debate producer, Clayton Brown
Producer/Director

Clayton Brown

Clayton Brown is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Radio/TV/Film at Northwestern University. He is a documentary and narrative filmmaker interested in exploring the hidden stories and compelling characters that emerge when people pursue their passions. Of particular interest are the ways in which science and storytelling intersect, both in… Show more fiction and non-fiction. His fiction work includes Galileo's Grave, winner of the Chicago IFP Production Fund and Best Short Film at the Albany and East Lansing film festivals, and The Darkening Sun, about the first woman to photograph a solar eclipse in 1869. He is a co-founder of 137 Films, a Chicago-based award-winning documentary production company committed to telling stories about America’s complicated relationship with science. He co-directed The Atom Smashers (Independent Lens), a documentary about the search for the Higgs boson particle; The Believers, which tells the story of two scientists who thought they had discovered Cold Fusion; and 137 Films’ documentary We Believe in Dinosaurs. Show less

Other ITVS Films
The Atom Smashers
The Debate
Headshot of The Debate producer, Monica Long Ross.
Producer/Director

Monica Long Ross

Monica Long Ross is a filmmaker and playwright. She is a co-founder of 137 Films, a Chicago-based documentary production company. Ross co-directed and co-produced the award-winning documentaries We Believe in Dinosaurs (Independent Lens), The Atom Smashers (Independent Lens), and The Believers. Monica's documentaries have been screened at… Show more festivals around the world, as have her short films exploring women, memory, and the dangers lurking in nostalgia (Pantyhose, Dinner, Memory, The Story of My Life, We Read Different Books). Dinner was a finalist at the Rose d'Or Montreux in Switzerland. She was a founding member and playwright for Childsplay in Tempe AZ (Clarissa’s Closet, Montana Molly and the Peppermint Kid, Phoebe Joins the Circus) and the Arizona Women’s Theatre Company (Complications, Crazy Sexy). Show less

Other ITVS Films
The Atom Smashers
The Debate

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The Film

We Believe in Dinosaurs tells the story of the building of an enormous, $120 million Noah’s Ark at the Creation Museum in rural Williamstown, Kentucky, an exhibit designed to prove the Bible is scientifically and historically accurate. Along with detailing the Ark's preparation, the film follows several Kentuckians: Doug and his team of artists and designers who create lifelike animals; Dan, a geologist who blows the whistle on the Ark’s hiring practices; David, a former creationist and lifetime museum member who blogs critically about beliefs he once held; and atheist activist Jim Helton, co-founder of Tri-State Freethinkers, who leads a protest rally outside the Ark on opening day. As the citizens of Williamstown wait for the economic boon promised by the Ark’s founders, creationists spread the gospel of a 6,000 year-old Earth. We Believe in Dinosaurs explores the roots of our beliefs.

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