Daniel Kooman | Writing and Directing Inspiring Stories

The Universe began when God the Creator of everything said, “Let there be light.” As the wonder of the world came to life with all its intricate beauty, the most miraculous moment had yet to become reality. In this must-see clip, Jen Ledger of Skillet explains the glory at work in God’s hands as Sculptor. “I love how God is described as a sculptor, a Creator, He wants us to see how glorious He is...

In the coming weeks, I will be sharing and unpacking and meditating over new revelations from inspiring women in Scripture. If you missed last weeks post, I had a lot of feedback and personal emails about Sarah, the first chapter entry in the new book, Volume 2 of The God Who Hides . You can read it first by clicking below. In the meantime, you’ll thank me later for this post, because when you inv...

In the early hours, we are off, another flight scheduled before sunrise. Why is it always BEFORE sunrise? We are embarking on a long-planned mission, continuing pre-production, planning and film preparations in India for our Biblical Daniel film. Prayers are so valuable as we travel far, experience high temperatures, long travel days, logistical challenges and yes, eat delicious new food. Please k...

Daniel, the hero in the Bible, stood for something. And I am so inspired by his tale of courage and faithfulness, that my brothers and I have decided to stand with him. You might feel like you’ve heard a lot of Daniel chatter lately. But I implore you to read a little further for an important update about the project. This is a critical tipping point for our movie on the beloved Biblical character...

It’s my birthday this week. Just the right time to birth something new. Which is why I’m thrilled to announce the crowdfunding equity campaign for DANIEL . You can own a piece of the must-see movie coming to a theater near you in 2025. Daniel is an epic drama from Unveil Studios (She Has A Name), Cobalt Pictures (I Can Only Imagine) and in association with Collide Media (their team is behind some...

“Oh how I long for Heaven in a place called Earth.” It’s the opening lyric of Lauren Daigle and Jon Foreman’s song bookending our Tanzania 2024 missions video. It’s been the heart cry of many followers of Christ over the years, as the centrepiece of the Lord’s prayer. “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” We saw beautiful glimpses of Heaven on our recent trip with 17...

In 2006, I was in East Africa for the second time in 9 months. I didn’t know what dreams were about to be borne. I didn’t even know I was in the seedling stage of mine, and others, transformation. We were completing a film called Africa Sing Me Your Song , filming stories of AIDS-impacted children in central Tanzania. We had filmed some amazing footage with Masai warriors, in local schools, and ev...

As a filmmaker, I’m excited to share some of the work we produce at Unveil Studios. Writing and uncovering Biblical truth is a passion of mine which I share weekly about on this newsletter, and filmmaking is my other passion as well as my day job! We started our studio (and named it Unveil) in 2006, inspired by 2 Corinthians 3:18, And we all, with UNVEIL-ed face, beholding the glory of the Lord, a...

In the last post about Daniel we concluded that one of the great themes of the book (and the entire Bible by extension) is that we must face our many fears, like the fear of man, fear of death, and more, and exchange them all for the one fear that we are called to have: The Fear of Yahweh. This ‘Fear of the Lord’ is the beginning of wisdom, and is the only fear that overcomes all others. If your f...

Right now I’m working on some exciting new content for Breath of Life, including the new release video included on this email. And I implore you to take a five minute break right now, or sometime today, to breathe some refreshing new life into your spirit! This content hits home for me every time I take it in. That is because it’s a literal breath of life for the body, mind and spirit! In Hebrew t...

Daniel, from the Hebrew, literally translates to English as “God is my Judge.” This is where my first big takeaway came from, while working in India to capture the first scenes of our new film. My brothers and I at Unveil have been 600BC deep into a meditation on this righteous saint for the last eight months, so it’s kind of surprising it hadn’t hit me quite so hard a little sooner. Daniel, and h...

Don’t you love character-driven stories? They’re my favourite. Liam Neeson in Taken . Mel Gibson in Signs . The slum dog in Slumdog Millionaire . We get sucked into good character stories, because we relate to at least one key element of the character in a story. We may not have Liam Neeson’s ability to eviscerate bad guys, but we relate to his will to fight for his daughter. We may not be an ex-p...

The guitar they played on their new album was built from the floor boards of Jimi Hendrix childhood home. We pull inspiration from the things that impact us in our daily life. And then we share our inspiration, if we are willing to, with the world. Why are we drawn to the music and the stories that come from a place of inspiration? Where does inspiration itself originate from? And is it possible t...

In this episode of my podcast I ask the question: What is the heart of the story you are telling in your daily life? Did you know that no matter what your career is, or what stage of life you find yourself in, you are writing a story? And if you want to get cinematic and apply the directing piece, you are also directing a movie at the workplace, in your home, and even at your church. My second sec...

What story are you writing and directing in your daily life? Have you ever thought of yourself as a storyteller? I don’t mean just for that 5 minutes when you put your kids or grandkids to bed. I mean in your everyday life. Because we are all writing a story. And one of the secrets to great storytelling, is to engage the imagination of your audience. We are all hooked if someone tells a good story...