Why are the Dominicans making movies? St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers in 13th-century Europe to remind people of the Christian message that the world is inherently good. In Christ, creation is caught up in the divine life of God. The Dominicans continue to creatively deliver this urgent good news to the world and have assigned priority to their use of mass media.

What kind of movies? Mud Puddle Films takes inspiration from Jesus’ use of parables, specializing in thought-provoking, fictional stories. Our short and feature-length films attempt to reveal, explicitly and implicitly, God’s beauty and loving action in the world, especially in human relationships.

Why the name “Mud Puddle Films”? Water, richly symbolic to Christians, is symbolic of life and hope to all. But we preach a hope that recognizes the messiness, the graced muck and mud, that are a part of life and creation. Go ahead, splash in God’s mud puddle – www.mudpuddlefilms.com.

Writer/director Dominic DeLay. Dominic DeLay produced, wrote, and directed Last Notes red green blue or black, a cycle of four feature-length films which can be seen individually or as a group. He creates emotionally engaging, thought-provoking, and artistic films for mainstream audiences, films that ask questions more than give answers. And even the questions are not necessarily articulated in language. He likes to quote choreographer Martha Graham’s response when asked what one of her dances meant: “If I could tell you what it means, I wouldn’t have to dance it.”

Dominic earned his MFA in film production at Chapman University in Southern California. His 35mm thesis project, Dogwoman & Magicman, was awarded grants from both the University and the School of Film and Television. His film The Soda Jerks was nominated for all but one of Chapman’s annual Cecil B. DeMille awards, including best film, best director, and best screenplay. Dominic’s The Sisters O’Malley was one of only a handful of projects chosen out of over one hundred for production sponsored by Chapman’s large and distinguished School of Film and Television.

Dominic earned his BA in Music from Occidental College in Los Angeles and his MA in Theology and the Arts from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Dominic is a Dominican friar and Catholic priest.