Sons & Daughters of Thunder

Putnam Premiere Date Changed for "Thunder" to March 16, 2019

The Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa has requested a date change for the Sons & Daughters of Thunder premiere.  The movie premiere event will now be held on Saturday, March 16 at 6:30PM.  The event was previous scheduled for March 9.

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, March 16, 2019

TIME: 6:30PM - 9:00PM

LOCATION: The Putnam Museum National Geographic Giant Screen, 1717 W. 12th Street, Davenport, Iowa.

Advance ticket information will be posted soon!

To learn more about the docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder, click HERE!

Illinois Arts Council Awards Support Grant for Artistic Work on “Sons & Daughters of Thunder” Docudrama

Thunder director Kelly Rundle (back) and Sound/Visual Effects designer Chris Ryder.

Director Kelly Rundle was awarded an Individual Artist Support Grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, which will partially support the sound and special graphic/effects work on the docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder. Chris Ryder of Autumn Leaf Productions will perform the work. Ryder contributed similar work for Fourth Wall Films on the Mid-America Emmy-nominated films Letters Home to Hero Street and Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City.

"I am very grateful to the Illinois Arts Council for this important support on Sons & Daughters of Thunder,” said director Kelly Rundle.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder is based on a play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter and tells the true story of the 1834 Lane Seminary Debates. Organized by Theodore Weld, one of the architects of the abolitionist movement, the shocking oratory sparked intense controversy and awakened a young Harriet Beecher (Stowe) to the horrors of slavery. Beecher-Stowe went on to pen Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The novel changed American public opinion in favor of abolition.

Recording Jessica Taylor's audio as Harriet Beecher for Thunder.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder was filmed at historic sites in Rock Island, Sterling and Andover, Illinois, and in Cincinnati Ohio.  The film stars Thomas Alan Taylor (Weld), Jessica Taylor (Beecher), Janos Horvath (Harriet’s father, Lyman Beecher) and Kimberly Kurtenbach (Katharine Beecher).

Thunder previously received a grant from Quad City Arts Dollars for additional dialog recordings with actors.

The film will premiere at the Putnam Museum’s Giant Screen on Saturday, March 9 at 6:30 p.m.

Fourth Wall Films is an award-winning, Regional-Emmy nominated independent media production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder is based on the critically-acclaimed play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter, and 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 (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 (Jessica Taylor) 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.  

Sons & Daughters of Thunder is produced by Kent Hawley and Fourth Wall Films, owned by Emmy® nominated filmmakers Kelly Rundle and Tammy Rundle, a film and video production company specializing in historical documentaries for public television broadcast and DVD home video.  

Kimberly Kurtenbach is the Executive Producer on the film and also stars as Catharine Beecher. Kurtenbach also served as Casting Director on the project. Thunder was shot by award-winning Director of Photography Kevin Railsback. Award-winning filmmaker Chris Ryder handled sound and visual effects. Emily Busha was the film’s costume designer, circa 1834.  William Campbell is the film score composer.  Tyson Danner served as Assistant Director, with Olivia Ketron and Melinda Carriker serving as Production Assistants. 

The cast includes Thomas Alan Taylor, Jessica Taylor, Janos Horvath, Mark Winn, Tom Walljasper, Mike Kennedy, Don Denton, Mike Schulz, Tristan Tapscott, Anthony Stratton, Justin Marxen, Jaylen Marks, Pat Flaherty, Daniel Rairdin-Hale, Lora Adams, Joseph Maubach, Tim Stompanato, David Furness, Travis Shepherd, Mikeal Burgin, Lisa Kahn, David Juehring, Don Hazen and David Shropshire. Over fifty extras took part in Thunder.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder is dedicated to Kent Hawley & Earlene Hawley.

Partial funding for the film was provided by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, and through the Quad City Arts with a grant provided by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, and John Deere. The fiscal sponsors for the film project are The Shell Rock Historical Society, and The Moline Foundation. 

PRE-ORDER the Sons & Daughters of Thunder DVD (release date December 2019) and SAVE! Click HERE!

 

 

Grants Awarded to “Sons & Daughters of Thunder” and "Hero Street" Film Projects

Documentary filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Moline-based Fourth Wall Films were awarded grants from the Moline Foundation and the Illinois Humanities Council to fund a portion of the post-production work on A World Away From Hero Street, the third installment in their Hero Street historical documentary film series. Their docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, to fund portions of the sound and special graphic/effects work on the project.

"We are very grateful to the Moline Foundation and the Illinois Humanities Council for the grants awarded to A World Away from Hero Street,” said producer Tammy Rundle. “We also extend our gratitude to LULAC Iowa, the City of Silvis, Bob Ontiveros and Marc Wilson, who generously provided a cash match for the Humanities grant.”

A World Away From Hero Street will tell the story of William Sandoval. Born in a boxcar into an impoverished family of twelve, he joined the Army after Pearl Harbor was attacked and became a paratrooper. He survived several battles over the next two years, but was killed at age 21 in October 1944 following his involvement in what is still the largest air assault in history, the British-led Operation Market Garden. This battle was the basis for the Hollywood film “A Bridge Too Far.” The documentary will combine interviews with Sandoval family members, friends, and historians, with archival photos, letters and documents. The film will also feature an on-camera interview with military historian John C. McManus, the author of "September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far."

"A World Away From Hero Street is not a story of dates that battles were fought, or the number of tons of bombs dropped, it is a human story,” said Director Kelly Rundle. “The national success of Letters Home to Hero Street has proven that the Hero Street story has a universal appeal and interest."

Letters Home to Hero Street was co-produced with WQPT-PBS and received an Emmy® nomination in 2015.  The film is also featured on the national PBS Learning Media website along with associated lesson plans for teachers.

A World Away previously received a grant from the Regional Development Authority.

A special Humanities Iowa sneak preview of Riding the Rails to Hero Street, the first film in the series is slated for May 2019.  A World Away From Hero Street will premiere in November 2019 near Veterans Day.

Director Kelly Rundle was also awarded an Individual Artist Support Grant from the Illinois Arts Councilto commission creative visual and sound work for the editing and finishing stage of Fourth Wall Films’ docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder. Chris Ryder of Autumn Leaf Productions will perform the work. Ryder contributed similar work for Fourth Wall Films for Letters Home to Hero Street and Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City. Thunder will premiere at the Putnam Museum’s Giant Screen on Saturday, March 9 at 6:30 p.m.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder is based on a play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter and tells the true story of the 1834 Lane Seminary Debates. Organized by Theodore Weld, one of the architects of the abolitionist movement, the shocking oratory sparked intense controversy and awakened a young Harriet Beecher (Stowe) to the horrors of slavery. Beecher-Stowe went on to pen “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” The novel changed American public opinion in favor of abolition.

Thunder was filmed at historic sites in Rock Island, Sterling and Andover, Illinois, and in Cincinnati Ohio.  The film stars Thomas Alan Taylor (Weld), Jessica Taylor (Beecher), Janos Horvath (Harriet’s father, Lyman Beecher) and Kimberly Kurtenbach (Katharine Beecher).

Thunder previously received a grant from Quad City Arts Dollars for additional dialog recordings with actors.

Fourth Wall Films is an award-winning, Regional-Emmy nominated independent media production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.