Most of the cast of Sons & Daughters of Thunder. The film will premiere in 2016.
The question we are receiving daily? "WHEN will Sons & Daughters of Thunder premiere?"
We LOVE that there is this eager anticipation to see Thunder!
So, here is the "simple" answer! It typically takes us 12-18 months after production has wrapped to complete the post-production phase of a film project (editing, pick-up shooting, rough-cut, fine cutting, looping, music and sound mixing).
Since we are not a Hollywood studio that can crank films out quickly, nor do we have a Hollywood multi-million dollar budget, it takes us longer. We are full-time independent filmmakers working on several projects simultaneously and add to that the constant challenge of fundraising.
Most importantly, since this is our FIRST narrative film (we are documentary filmmakers by trade), we want to get it right.
So, while we'd hoped to premiere the film in 2015, the short answer is Sons & Daughters of Thunder will premiere in 2018 (if final funding is in place) at the Putnam Giant Screen in Davenport, with wider release to follow.
In the meantime, a new trailer of the film will be released later in late 2017. And we will be kicking off another fundraising campaign to wrap the project!
If you want to know more about how YOU can help, visit "How to Contribute".
Tax-deductible contributions toward Sons & Daughters of Thunder can be made via our fiscal sponsor in Shell Rock, Iowa. Make your check payable to: Shell Rock Historical Society-Film, and mail your check to Fourth Wall Films, PO Box 702, Moline, IL 61265.
We have a long list of wonderful sponsors and contributors we gratefully acknowledge at "Contributors List". Without their help, belief in us and constant cheer leading we would not be where we are on the project!
Thanks, everyone, for the anticipation, the financial contributions, for spreading the word and for all of your support! That is what we need to raise Thunder!
The Much-Anticipated Docudrama
Based on the critically-acclaimed play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter, Sons & Daughters of Thunder tells the true story of the 1834 Cincinnati, Ohio Lane Theological Seminary anti-slavery debates. The controversial meetings, led by abolitionist and firebrand Theodore Weld (played by acclaimed stage actor Thomas Alan Taylor), were the first to publicly discuss the end of slavery in America. The meetings angered Cincinnati residents and Lane Seminary officials, who promptly slapped a gag order on the entire student body. This action was followed by a freedom of speech protest and mass exodus of Lane students to Oberlin College. A young Harriet Beecher’s (played by acclaimed stage actress Jess Denney) exposure to the debates and Weld's continuing work to free the slaves sparked a flame that led her to write her magnum opus Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Filming for Sons & Daughters of Thunder has taken place at beautiful historic sites like the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio (the only remaining structure on Lane Seminary grounds where the story originally took place), the Dillon Home Museum in Sterling, Illinois, the Jenny Lind Chapel in Andover, Illinois, Karpeles Manuscript Museum and Augustana College's House on the Hill in Rock Island, Illinois.
Sons & Daughters of Thunder is produced by Fourth Wall Films, owned by Emmy® nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle, a film and video production company specializing in historical documentaries for public television broadcast and DVD home video.
The Rundle's received a regional Emmy® nomination for their documentary Country School: One Room - One Nation, and have received numerous awards for their documentary film series Lost Nation: The Ioway 1, 2&3, Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg (co-produced with Garry McGee) and Villisca: Living with a Mystery; and the short documentaries Letters Home to Hero Street (co-produced with WQPT), Any Kid Anywhere: Sex Trafficking Survivor Stories (co-produced with Braking Traffik). In addition to Sons & Daughters of Thunder, they are currently in production on the documentaries The Barn Raisers and Hero Street ; and post-production on River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6 premiering on September 17, 2015.