“It feels kind of like it’s an exciting free fall, with God as your parachute, because you know you’re here and you know you’re here for a reason. You’re here to serve God. In documentary you’re witnessing events, it’s all happening in real time and hopefully before the camera. I’ve learned from this trip the importance of shooting for the scene.”

Rachel attended one of our 5 week summer workshops overseas, then came back for more.

“During my 12 months serving in Wycliffe Canada’s video department, I worked on documentary projects, from initial scripting through to final post-production and distribution. My time at Wycliffe was valuable for me both in terms of experience and personal growth. Being involved with the film trips within Canada and abroad gave me an opportunity to see first-hand how God is working through the Bible translation ministry of Wycliffe. I gained a deeper understanding of how we can serve minority language groups and the importance of mother-tongue Scriptures.”

Your creative mission-focused filmmaking opportunities can run from six weeks to 12 months or longer.

Studio Wycliffe description

You are invited into our world – a studio of complex textures, colour and design; full of stories just waiting to be explored and captured on film for the glory of our magnificent Creator! Each with a focus on the Bibleless people.

Through our varied Studio Wycliffe filmmaking opportunities, you can take part in an overseas documentary workshop, longer-term video internship or other opportunities designed for creative professionals interested in documentary, motion graphic design or animation in a missions context. Other creative production people are also needed.

For our documentary approach we use a custom-designed production workflow gleaned from working with top documentary filmmakers over many years.

Note: Studio Wycliffe, as a ministry of Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada, has no salaried positions. All approved interns and skilled volunteers are responsible to raise their own financial support.

Chris Coffyn here, Wycliffe Canada’s director of photography, editor and all that jazz. I love to mentor and work alongside up and coming film professionals as well as seasoned pros with a hunger to grow their storytelling craft while growing in the Lord.

A bit about myself. I have more than 25 years of experience in video production, and have produced documentaries around the world in locations as diverse as the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, the Australian outback and the Mayan ruins in southern Mexico. Each with a mission focus on the Bibleless people. I also have the unique distinction of having once interviewed a monkey that promptly destroyed my microphone (you’ll have to ask me about that tale). You can visit our videos page to see examples of our work.

If you have attended a film school, or have a communications/media arts education and are interested in missions – this could be the perfect opportunity for you!

Or if you are a skilled photographer, motion graphic designer, animator or in a similar field and you are wanting to expand into filmmaking to support missions, this can be your bridge.

We are also looking for seasoned filmmaking professionals. And on a case-by-case basis, we accept novice, self-taught filmmakers, who are at least 18 years old.

For qualifying creative candidates, we have custom designed filmmaking opportunities.

“Participating in a Studio Wycliffe internship, I found myself challenged and pushed to apply the training I received in film school. Then, in the editing room, learning to shape the stories that I captured [on video] and experiencing how important post-production is in telling the story, was an eye opener. The experience really showed me that there is another kind of adventure that God can take me on to use my passion for film-making, and it’s bigger than I could have imagined!”