Last updated on septembre 29th, 2020 at 09:38 am<\/p>\n
On February 24th, the Hallmark Drama channel aired the 28th Annual Movieguide Awards<\/a>. Movieguide is a faith-based organization which, according to its mission statement<\/a>, seeks to \u00ab\u00a0to redeem the values of the entertainment industry, according to biblical principles, by influencing industry executives and artists.\u00a0\u00bb They accomplish by providing reliable, family-friendly film reviews and criticism throughout the year, and of course by issuing their nominees and awards each year.<\/p>\n\n The categories in which films are nominated for awards include \u00ab\u00a0Best Movies for Families\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0Best Movies for Mature Audiences,\u00a0\u00bb as well as in special award categories: for example, the \u00ab\u00a0Epiphany Prize\u00ae For Inspiring Movies [and Television]\u00a0\u00bb and the \u00ab\u00a0Faith & Freedom Award\u00ae\u00a0\u00bb for both movies and TV.<\/p>\n\n One of the films nominated this year, in multiple categories, was Unplanned<\/a><\/em>, the history-making success from God is Not Dead <\/em>creators Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon. The film has been the most successful pro-life film ever, telling the true story of former Planned Parenthood employee Abby Johnson coming to realize the horrible truth about abortion.<\/p>\n\n If you watched the Hallmark Drama channel’s presentation of the award show, though, you would not know that Unplanned <\/em>was nominated at all: much less that the cast and crew were acknowledged on stage at one point during the evening! <\/p>\n\n The star of the film, Ashley Bratcher, brought this to light on Twitter:<\/p>\n\n Bratcher’s tweet contains video of her speaking on stage with the directors of the film in the background, but this video was shot by someone in the room\u2014Hallmark didn’t air it.<\/p>\n\n Bratcher explains in further tweets: \u00ab\u00a0If you watch the televised show it\u2019s like we don\u2019t exist despite our 3 nominations and time on stage. […] All mentions of the film were pulled from Hallmark\u2019s televised show, even in just the announcement of nominees.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n\n This isn’t the first time Hallmark seems to have caved to pressured from the left and anti-family forces in its programming and content decisions. Last year, the network caused controversy with an advertisement featuring a lesbian \u00ab\u00a0wedding.\u00a0\u00bb After an uproar from its (mainly Christian) viewership, Hallmark decided<\/a> to pull the ad from the air; but then they reversed that decision<\/a> and reinstated the ad after another wave of protests from LGBT groups.<\/p>\n\n Given this history, and the shocking news about Hallmarks decision to hide a pro-life film from its viewership at the recent Movieguide Awards, family advocates may well wonder whether how long they can count on Hallmark networks remaining the family-friendly haven on the airwaves that they have traditionally been. <\/p>\n\n