| Heart of the Beholder | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Ken Tipton |
| Written by | Ken Tipton |
| Produced by | Darlene Lieblich Ken Tipton Jeanette Voluturno Arnon Manor |
| Starring | Matt Letscher Sarah Joy Brown John Dye Anne Ramsay Michael Dorn Jason Wiles Greg Germann Ken Tipton Arden Myrin Silas Weir Mitchell Tony Todd Chloë Grace Moretz Priscilla Barnes |
| Cinematography | George Mooradian |
| Edited by | Dana E. Glauberman |
| Music by | Peter Rafelson |
| Distributed by | Beholder Productions |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$500,000 |
Heart of the Beholder is a 2005 drama film that was written and directed by Ken Tipton. It is based on Tipton's own experience as the owner of a chain of videocassette rental stores in the 1980s. Tipton and his family had opened the first videocassette rental stores in St. Louis in 1980; their business was destroyed by a campaign of Christian fundamentalists who objected to the chain's carrying the film The Last Temptation of Christ for rental.
The film showed at the 2005 Westwood Film Festival.[1] Critic Ryan Cracknell summarized the film, "There's no shortage of material for writer-director Ken Tipton to work with here. That alone makes Heart of the Beholder a film of interest. It is in many ways a politically charged film as it touches on issues of freedom of speech, religious beliefs and all out fanaticism. Still, I didn't think it was charged with enough balance and I think a large part had to do with the film's inconsistent pacing."[2]
The film won the best feature award at the 2005 New Hampshire Film Festival and the directors choice award at the 2005 Bluegrass Independent Film Festival.
