Eliot Rausch

I discovered Eliot Rausch through a short film he created called Last Minutes with Oden, which won the Vimeo award for best short film in 2010. It's a short documentary about a man during his last 48 hours with his best friend, a three legged dog named Oden. The story is heart wrenching. If you don't get at least a little choked up while watching it, you probably don't have a soul.

I have since watched a lot of Rausch's short-films, which are often a documentary/narrative type blend that portrays the world in a very realistic sense. While a lot of the images are dark and paint the world as a rough and broken place, he provides a message of hope. In fact, most of his messages are biblical and display the message of Jesus very well. He does it without sugar-coating the story and showing typical Christian images. I appreciate that. I love that he gets a beautiful message across to the secular culture so effectively. He inspires me to not avoid dealing with tough issues, and to not be afraid to realistically show people who struggle just because I want to be accepted by "Church culture." Because, in reality, people hurt and bleed and cry. And our God deals with people with real brokenness and suffering, not sugar-coated, "everything will work out fine if you just believe" type stories. He is with us through all the muck, dirt, and sin. Someone needs to address those issues, and speak Truth to them.

Here is a short one he did inspired by Matthew 5. 

Check out his vimeo page and watch some of his other short films. They are raw and inspirational.