Grace to Forgive Film Production coming to Douglas
Film Producer and Coffee County native Sidney Bryant returns to Douglas to shoot the company’s fourth feature film. Compelling Pictures formerly, known as Sidney Bryant Films, has been producing short films & feature films since early 2010, and now ten years later, they are bringing back stars from all their previous bodies of work to produce a powerful film entitled “Grace to Forgive.” A story inspired by several real life events including the Charleston Massacre of 2015.
Bryant and his team are now accepting applications for extras to be in scenes that will be shot at the Coffee County Court House and several local churches in the area. To sign up to be an extra, log on to casting.compelinnerprovince.org and submit your information.
Grace to Forgive
Faith and fury collide when a 21-year-old white male raged with hate is welcomed into an African Methodist Episcopal church with the intentions of killing those assembled by the common declaration of faith, selected for the color of their skin.
After being taken into custody by the FBI, David Ruthledge is escorted to a conference room at the GBI where he enjoys a meal from a local fast-food restaurant. Joined by two FBI agents, it is now time to detail his account of that summer night he inserted himself into the congregation of an AME Church on the Southside of Sappho County Georgia.
Agent Matthews takes the opportunity to learn of David’s level of education and upbringing; he uses this as a basis to further communicate with David, making him feel as if he has done something right. This gets David talking; he wants to tell his story. The depth of David’s ideology of elitism catches agents Matthews and Daniels by surprise. David has spent months if not years researching time periods where whites ruled minority countries, and how powerful that time was. He truly desires to see that day return.
David takes us back to that moment he arrived at the AME Church. That moment he was welcomed with open arms by the deacons and congregation where he was encouraged to participate in the study. That moment love was extended to him, and he had to make a choice to execute his plan or surrender his life.
David shares with detectives how the biased media pushed him to search the internet for answers, and how he became aware of white Americans becoming minorities because of their lack of awareness. Meanwhile survivor Celeste Tyson attends her first therapy session; overwhelmed with the loss of her husband JoJo, Celeste is struggling with regrets and how to move forward in raising her children.
Despite his reasoning and hatred, it’s only when he is face to face with family members of his victims in a small overcrowded South Georgia courtroom, he and the rest of the world realize that forgiveness is for the victims not the perpetrator. Even for the ones who survived the massacre, it becomes evident that the only path forward is forgiveness. They offer him that forgiveness and compassion to hopefully give him a second chance at life even while jailed in prison for his actions.