Java Mammas: Where God and the Devil Converse

Jordan Coulson and longtime friend Evan Mack were sitting in discussing religion.

“I feel that people, when they interpret religion, they take it too seriously one way or the another,” he said. “…I think science and religion can work together.”

Coulson, a hopeful filmmaker, put this idea into action.

While the conversation could have occurred between any two patrons in Java Mammas, Coulson, playing God, and Mack, playing the devil, had cameras on them. The film they were shooting was a short piece for YouTube’s Your Film Festival contest.

Mack said they were putting the finishing touches on the film this week to submit by Saturday, when submissions close. A worldwide audience will vote on the submissions in June, and the top 10 winners will open the 2012 Venice Film Festival. In Venice, one grand prize winner will be awarded a $500,000 grant to create a new film that will be produced by a team led by famed director Ridley Scott and actor Michael Fassbender.

Earlier in March, Mack and Coulson, along with a camera crew and extras, took over Java Mammas. Coulson said a coffee shop setting was the perfect place for God and the devil to observe human interaction, and have an intense talk.

“What if the devil and God had a conversation about the world and they both had really good points about why the world is how it is?” Coulson said. “…We observe human nature and then mock it for all it's worth and then ourselves in the meantime.”