The Faith Experience

For the first time, the 2025 Annapolis Film Festival is featuring a faith experience. The idea is to explore belief, love, and the human spirit through a lens of compassion – not dogma. And the whole idea came to life thanks to the Brian and Patricia Giese Foundation.

Brian and his wife, Patty, supported the film festival last year, too. This time around, they proposed something new. “They’ve had a Black Experience. A Jewish Experience. Documentaries. Shorts. But never something centered around faith,” Brian said. “We weren’t asking for control. We just asked — what if there was a place for that?”

The result is a space for films that stir deeper conversations – about purpose, love, community, and yes, even God. But this isn't Sunday school. “This isn’t about religion,” Brian says. “It’s about faith. It’s about each other. That’s what Jesus was about. And if we can get closer to that, our community will be a better place.”

The centerpiece of The Faith Experience is The King of Kings, an animated film from Angel Studios — also behind The Chosen and Sound of Freedom. It's the story of Jesus told by Charles Dickens to his children. And it features a powerhouse voice cast: Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, Mark Hamill, and Pierce Brosnan. Don't let the animation turn you away. It's accessible to children but still meaningful for adults.

“I watched it last week,” Brian told me. “It’s good. It’s true to the story, and that was important to me. It’s not trying to embellish — it just tells the gospel through the voice of one of the greatest writers ever. That’s pretty powerful.”

For Brian, it’s all about planting seeds. “We think of our foundation as a venture capital firm for Jesus,” he laughed. “We want to help ideas grow that point people toward love and truth. If one kid walks out of Maryland Hall on March 29 and says, ‘Mom, tell me more about that’ — then this was worth it.”

And when I asked Brian what he tells his own kids, what this whole thing is really about, he didn’t miss a beat: “Worship God. Love people. Use things.”

The King of Kings screens Saturday, March 29 at 2:30 p.m. at Maryland Hall. Learn more and grab tickets at annapolisfilmfestival.com.