Sons & Daughters of Thunder

"Thunder" and "Becoming Harriet Beecher Stowe" earn Four Regional Emmy Nominations

Fourth Wall Films' documentary Becoming Harriet Beecher Stowe and docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder have received four Mid-America Emmy® nominations. The films had their broadcast premiere on WQPT- PBS.

Becoming Harriet Beecher Stowe received a nomination in the Documentary-Cultural category.The film tells the story of the iconic writer’s time in Cincinnati, Ohio and how several life-altertering experiences contributed material for her best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Beecher-Stowe lived in Cincinnati between 1832 and 1850, and after her move to Maine, she adapted her Ohio experiences and new anti-slavery sentiment into America’s most influential novel.

The documentary features historians, writers and storytellers: Dr. Christine Anderson, Chris DeSimio, Dr. John Douglass, Dr. John Getz, Dr. Joan Hedrick, Philip McFarland, Dr. Michelle Watts, and Betty Campbell. Dee Canfield of Moline, Illinois read excerpts from Beecher Stowe’s letters in the film. Filming took place at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio, John Rankin House in Ripley, Ohio, and on a canal boat courtesy the Johnston Farm and Indian Agency.

The Fourth Wall Films docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder received three nominations including Best Arts/Entertainment: Program/Special, Best Original Music Score by William Campbell, and a nomination for Writing (Screenplay). The screenplay was adapted by the Rundles from the play “Sons & Daughters of Thunder” written by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter. Kent Hawley co-produced the film with the Rundles.

"We hope to be able to honor playwright Earlene Hawley with a win," said producer/director Kelly Rundle. "She is the heart of Sons & Daughters of Thunder."

Sons & Daughters of Thunder tells the unforgettable true story of the first-in-the-nation 1834 anti-slavery debates in Cincinnati, Ohio, led by firebrand abolitionist Theodore Weld as portrayed by Thomas Alan Taylor. The debates had a profound impact on a young Harriet Beecher Stowe’s views on slavery. Stowe is played by actress Jessica Taylor.

Kimberly Kurtenbach served as the Executive Producer and casting director on the project and played Harriet’s sister Catharine Beecher in the film. Janos Horvath starred as Lyman Beecher.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder starred many acclaimed actors from the Midwest and Los Angeles (MEET THE CAST HERE), and a small but mighty crew, including award-winning DP Kevin Railsback, award-winning Sound/Effects Chris Ryder, Emily Busha (Wardrobe), Dave Furness (Gaffer), Farrah Ketron (Hair/Make-up), Lora Adams and Wendy Czekalski (Wardrobe/Make-up/Hair Assistants), Olivia Ketron and Melinda Carriker (Production Assistants), Sandy Freel (Props), among others (MEET THE CREW HERE).

Filming took place at the Dillon Home Museum in Sterling, Illinois, the Jenny Lind Chapel in Andover, Illinois, the Karpeles Manuscript Museum and Augustana's House on the Hill in Rock Island, Illinois, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

"We congratulate our fantastic Thunder cast and outstanding team of artists behind the camera, Bill Campbell our amazing composer, our generous contributors and supporters, the Quad City Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, the Moline Foundation, and a special thank you to playwright Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter," said producer Tammy Rundle. "We wish Kent Hawley were here with us to see all that is happening with Thunder, as he was so much a part of the whole process."

Sons & Daughters of Thunder was partially funded by a grant from the Quad City Arts (Illinois Arts Council Agency, Hubbell-Waterman Foundation and Deere and Company); and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. The Moline Foundation and the Shell Rock Community Historical Society served as the fiscal sponsors for the project. Thunder is available on DVD at LaneRebelsMovie.com or Amazon.com, and it can be streamed via Vimeo On Demand.

Becoming Harriet Beecher Stowe was partially funded by a grant from the Ohio Humanities, a State affiliate of The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Kelly and Tammy Rundle received Mid-America Emmy® nominations for their documentaries Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, River to River: Iowa’s Forgotten Highway 6, Country School: One Room - One Nation, River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6, and Letters Home to Hero Street (co-produced with Lora Adams and WQPT).

Order Sons & Daughters of Thunder at https://www.fourthwallfilms.com/dvds.htm

“Sons & Daughters of Thunder” Wins 7 Awards from Iowa Motion Picture Association

The Iowa Motion Picture Association (IMPA) bestowed Sons & Daughters of Thunder seven awards during the 29th Annual gala ceremony held Saturday, August 8th at 7:00 p.m. Due to COVID-19, the event was held online this year.

The IMPA recognized outstanding creative and technical achievement in Iowa’s moving image production industry, in all its forms.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder received eight IMPA nominations, and won five top Awards of Excellence:

Best Live Action Entertainment-Long Form - Fourth Wall Films
Best Direction Long Form - Kelly Rundle
Best Original Music Score by William Campbell
Best Actor Thomas Alan Taylor
Best Supporting Actress Kimberly Kurtenbach

And, two Awards of Achievement went to Kelly Rundle for Editing-Long Form, and to Jessica Taylor for Best Actress.  Kevin Railsback received a nomination for Best Director of Photography for his outstanding cinematography on the project. Visit https://www.impa.tv/ for more details.

"We are honored that Sons & Daughters of Thunder and several of the talented creative artists involved in the film project were recognized for their outstanding work by the IMPA," said producer Tammy Rundle. “The award for Best Live Action Entertainment is shared with the entire cast and crew, including playwright Earlene Hawley, co-producer Kent Hawley, and our supporters who stuck with us during this challenging project. Thunder was very much a collaboration of gifted and dedicated professional artists.”

Based on the play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter, Sons & Daughters of Thunder tells the unforgettable true story of the first-in-the-nation 1834 emancipation debates led by firebrand abolitionist Theodore Weld (Thomas Alan Taylor) in Cincinnati, Ohio, and their effect on a young Harriet Beecher Stowe’s (Jessica Taylor) views of slavery.

Principal photography for Sons & Daughters of Thunder took place in Sterling, Illinois at the Dillon Home Museum, the Jenny Lind Chapel in Andover, Illinois, the Karpeles Manuscript Museum and Augustana's House on the Hill in Rock Island, Illinois, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder was partially funded by a grant from the Quad City Arts (Illinois Arts Council Agency, Hubbell-Waterman Foundation and Deere and Company); and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. The Moline Foundation and the Shell Rock Community Historical Society served as the fiscal sponsors for the project. Thunder is available on DVD at LaneRebelsMovie.com or Amazon.com, and it can be streamed via Vimeo On Demand.

Producers Kelly and Tammy Rundle are the owners of Fourth Wall Films, an award-winning and Regional Emmy-nominated independent film production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder was partially funded by a grant from the Quad City Arts, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, with support from Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation, and the Bix Biederbecke Inn. The Moline Foundation and the Shell Rock Community Historical Society served as the fiscal sponsors on the film project.  The film is co-produced by Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films and Kent Hawley. Kimberly Kurtenbach is the Executive Producer of the film.

Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films are the producers of multiple award-winning historical documentaries and the Mid-America Emmy® nominated documentaries Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, Country School: One Room – One Nation and Letters Home to Hero Street. 

Iowa Motion Picture Awards Ceremony goes 'Virtual' Aug. 8th - 8 Nominations for "Thunder"

The Iowa Motion Picture Association Gala Award Ceremony will be held online Saturday, August 8th, 2020. 

According to the IMPA Facebook page:
To attend you can either register to view the webinar on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-hwV31M_RDWMg9mR1k5urQ

OR

Watch live on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MyIMPA.

1:00 PM - 6:00 PM -- Screening of Select Short Films
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM -- Intermission
7:00 PM - The 29th Annual Iowa Motion Picture Awards (Virtual Event) 

Sons & Daughters of Thunder received eight award nominations: Best Narrative Film; Best Actor: Thomas Alan Taylor; Best Actress, Jessica Taylor; Best Supporting Actress, Kimberly Kurtenbach; Director of Photography, Kevin Railsback; Editing, Kelly Rundle; Original Music Score, William Campbell; Directing, Kelly Rundle.

The film is based on the play, Sons & Daughters of Thunder, written by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter, and tells the true story of the early debates on emancipation and the awakening of Harriet Beecher Stowe to the horrors of slavery.

 

Sons & Daughters of Thunder was partially funded by a grant from the Quad City Arts, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, with support from Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation, and the Bix Biederbecke Inn. The Moline Foundation and the Shell Rock Community Historical Society served as the fiscal sponsors on the film project.  The film is co-produced by Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films and Kent Hawley. Kimberly Kurtenbach is the Executive Producer of the film.

Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films are the producers of multiple award-winning historical documentaries and the Mid-America Emmy® nominated documentaries Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, Country School: One Room – One Nation and Letters Home to Hero Street. 

Purchase Sons & Daughters of Thunder on DVD HERE!

Stream the movie via VIMEO HERE! 

Iowa Motion Picture Assoc. award ceremony postponed to August in response to COVID-19

The Iowa Motion Picture Association has postponed this year's awards ceremony in response to the manditory state restrictions concerning COVID-19.  Fourth Wall Films' Sons & Daughters of Thunder is nominated for eight awards this year.  The IMPA gala event has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 8th, 2020 and will take place at the Bridgeview Center in Ottumwa, Iowa.

The IMPA wrote: "The Board of Directors of The Iowa Motion Picture Association has been closely following the updates, CDC and information released by Governor Reynolds surrounding COVID-19. Because your health and safety is our highest priority we have decided to postpone The 29th Annual Iowa Motion Picture Awards. We have worked with the Bridgeview Center and we have been able to secure a new date – August 8th, 2020. We will continue to monitor the situation and send any updates as we approach this new date should any additional changes in plan be required." 

IMPA event updates will be posted on its website at https://www.impa.tv/awards.html.

The IMPA bestowed Sons & Daughters of Thunder, a new docudrama produced by Emmy® nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, with eight award nominations: Best Narrative Film; Best Actor: Thomas Alan Taylor; Best Actress, Jessica Taylor; Best Supporting Actress, Kimberly Kurtenbach; Director of Photography, Kevin Railsback; Editing, Kelly Rundle; Original Music Score, William Campbell; Directing, Kelly Rundle.

The film is based on the play, Sons & Daughters of Thunder, written by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter, and tells the true story of the early debates on emancipation and the awakening of Harriet Beecher Stowe to the horrors of slavery.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder was partially funded by a grant from the Quad City Arts, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, with support from Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation, and the Bix Biederbecke Inn. The Moline Foundation and the Shell Rock Community Historical Society served as the fiscal sponsors on the film project.  The film is co-produced by Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films and Kent Hawley. Kimberly Kurtenbach is the Executive Producer of the film.

Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films are the producers of multiple award-winning historical documentaries and the Mid-America Emmy® nominated documentaries Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, Country School: One Room – One Nation and Letters Home to Hero Street. 

Purchase Sons & Daughters of Thunder on DVD HERE!

Stream the movie via VIMEO HERE! 

 

8 Iowa Motion Picture Association Nominations go to "Thunder"

The Iowa Motion Picture Association bestowed eight award nominations on Sons & Daughters of Thunder, a new docudrama produced by Emmy® nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films." The film is based on the play, Sons & Daughters of Thunder, written by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter.  The docudrama tells the true story of the early debates on emancipation and the awakening of Harriet Beecher Stowe to the horrors of slavery.

"We are deeply honored by this incredible recognition for Sons & Daughters of Thunder, the many talented cast members and crew, and the many who were a part of this monumental film project," said producer Tammy Rundle.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder received nominations for:

Best Narrative Film

Best Actor, Thomas Alan Taylor as Theodore Weld

Best Actress, Jessica Taylor as Harriet Beecher

Best Supporting Actress, Kimberly Kurtenbach as Catharine Beecher

Director of Photography, Kevin Railsback

Editing, Kelly Rundle

Original Music Score, William Campbell

Directing, Kelly Rundle

The 29th Annual Iowa Motion Picture Awards will be held Saturday, April 4th, 2020 at The Bridgeview Center in Ottumwa, Iowa. 

Select short films will screen from at 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.  The keynote speaker at the event is Greg Zekowski, co-producer of the Emmy-nominated "Walking Dead: Red Machete."  A Gala Dinner is scheduled from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. followed by the Award Ceremony at 7:00 p.m. 

Ticket information available at: https://filmfreeway.com/IMPAAwards/tickets.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder was partially funded by a grant from the Quad City Arts, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, with support from Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation, and the Bix Biederbecke Inn. The Moline Foundation and the Shell Rock Community Historical Society served as the fiscal sponsors on the film project.  The film is co-produced by Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films and Kent Hawley. Kimberly Kurtenbach is the Executive Producer of the film.

Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films are the producers of multiple award-winning historical documentaries and the Mid-America Emmy® nominated documentaries Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, Country School: One Room – One Nation and Letters Home to Hero Street. 

Purchase Sons & Daughters of Thunder on DVD HERE!

Stream the movie via VIMEO HERE! 

"Thunder" receives 'Merit of Excellence' from Ogeechee International History Film Festival

Sons & Daughters of Thunder received the "Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Historical Filmmaking" from The Ogeechee International History Film Festival in Statesboro, Georgia.

The Ogeechee International History Film Festival is the only open submission, juried, international cinema program of its kind. The film festival promotes and celebrates history presented through motion picture.

"We are honored by this distinction which we share with our entire crew and cast, playwright Earlene Hawley, and all of our supporters who stuck with us during this long journey," said director Kelly Rundle.

This is Sons & Daughters of Thunder's first film festival recognition.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder, a new film by Mid-America Emmy® nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, is based on the play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter, and tells the unforgettable true story of the beginning of the end of slavery in America. The film was shot by award-winning director of photography Kevin Railsback, with visual effects and sound by award-winning filmmaker Chris Ryder, and features an original score by William Campbell, the composer behind the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Lifeboat”.  Kimberly Kurtenbach is the Executive Producer of the film.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder will screen January 19 at 2pm at the Preston Town Hall in Preston, Iowa; for a special Black History Month presentation on February 6 at 6pm at the Moline Public Library in Moline, Illinois; and on WQPT-PBS on Sunday, February 9th at 8pm.

The Sons & Daughters of Thunder DVD can be ordered through Amazon.com and at LaneRebelsMovie.com.

The Ogeechee International Film Festival is a juried festival is sponsored by the Statesboro Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Georgia Southern University Department of History, the Georgia Humanities Council, the Georgia Southern University Department of Political Science and International Studies, the Georgia Southern University Department of Communication Arts, the Georgia Southern University Department of Foreign Languages, the Georgia Southern University Film Club, and the Georgia Southern University History Club.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder was partially funded by a grant from the Quad City Arts, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, with support from Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation, and the Bix Biederbecke Inn. The Moline Foundation and the Shell Rock Community Historical Society served as the fiscal sponsors on the film project.  The film is co-produced by Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films and Kent Hawley. Kimberly Kurtenbach is the Executive Producer of the film.

Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films are the producers of multiple award-winning historical documentaries and the Mid-America Emmy® nominated documentaries Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, Country School: One Room – One Nation and Letters Home to Hero Street. 

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.

"Sons & Daughters of Thunder" Filmmakers Receive Emmy-nomination for New Documentary

Sons & Daughters of Thunder producers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films  have received a Mid-America Emmy® nomination for their new documentary Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City.  This is the Rundles' fourth Emmy® nomination. 

The Moline, Illinois-based independent production company successfully competed with 42 proposals by 36 other media production companies nationwide to win a contract to produce "Good Earth" for the visitors center at South Dakota's newest State Park, Good Earth at Blood Run.

Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City tells the fascinating and forgotten story of the Blood Run National Historic Landmark as told by a Native American grandfather to his grandchildren. Produced in 4K, the documentary combines vivid present-day views of the park's scenic vistas and wildlife with dramatic historical reenactments portraying daily life in the year 1650. 

The Good Earth site in Iowa and South Dakota was occupied between 1500 and 1725 by ancestors of the present-day Omaha, Ponca, Ioway and Otoe-Missouria tribes, making it one of the oldest long-term habitation sites in the United States.  At its peak around 1650, the site was home to 6,000-10,000 residents--more than Boston (2,000) and New York (New Amsterdam-1,000) in that same year--making It the largest city in what is now the United States.

Good Earth was an important Native trading center for pipestone, bison hides and culture.  The once-vibrant city featured hundreds of lodges, earthen mounds, and a serpent-shaped effigy mound an eighth of a mile long.

A number of Sons & Daughters of Thunder wonderful and talented crew worked on the Good Earth documentary project with the Rundles, including Kimberly Kurtenbach who served as casting director/assistant director; Kevin Railsback who served as the nature director of photography, Chris Ryder who served as re-enactment director of photography/editing assistant; Lora Adams served as assistant director/modern wardrobe supervisor; and Melinda Carriker served as cultural wardrobe/props/set supervisor.

Fourth Wall Films is an Emmy® nominated and award-winning independent film and video production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.  The Rundles are the producers of the award-winning The Barn Raisers, Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg (co-produced with Garry McGee, McMarr, LTD.) Lost Nation: The Ioway series, Villisca: Living with a Mystery; the Emmy® nominated Letters Home to Hero Street (co-produced with WQPT-PBS); Country School: One Room - One Nation, River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6, and the soon-to-be released docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder.

Fourth Wall Films focuses on telling Midwestern stories through historical documentary films that reach viewers via PBS broadcasts, theaters, film festivals, national DVD release and online streaming.

To pre-order  Sons & Daughters of Thunder on DVD, click HERE! And, remember to make a note: the DVDs will ship in July 2019! 

To purchase Fourth Wall Films'  award-winning documentaries on DVD, click HERE!

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Mark your calendars and save the date for Saturday, March 16, 2019 for the Quad Cities premiere of Thunder at the Putnam Museum National Geographic Giant Screen at 6:30 p.m.  It will be a wonderful celebration with a number of cast and crew appearing at the event.  The film will be dedicated to Kent Hawley (whom we lost in November 2017) and his wife playwright Earlene Hawley.  News regarding the special February 2019 premiere in Cincinnati (where the true story took place) will be shared soon!

Follow us on Facebook by LIKING our Sons & Daughters of Thunder fanpage for all of the updates!

Quad City Arts awards “Sons & Daughters of Thunder” Arts Dollars grant

Abolitionists Thomas Alan Taylor (Theodore Weld) and Anthony Stratton (James Thome) in Sons & Daughters of Thunder.

Through their fiscal sponsor the Moline Foundation, Emmy® nominated Moline, Illinois filmmakers Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films have received an Arts Dollars grant for $5,000 from Quad City Arts, provided by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, and John Deere, in support of their new docudrama film project Sons & Daughters of Thunder. 

The grant award will be used to cover a portion of the cost of engaging key members of the project’s cast to re-record portions of the on-screen dialogue (ADR--additional dialogue recording) for the finished film in a controlled studio setting.

“We are very grateful to Quad City Arts for this grant award,” said Director Kelly Rundle.  “This funding will help with a very important part of the post-production process on the film project.”

Based on a play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter, Sons & Daughters of Thunder tells the unforgettable true story of the beginning of the end of slavery in America. In 1834, if polite discussions about abolishing slavery were considered inappropriate among Americans in Northern states, then eighteen days of public student-sponsored debates on the divisive subject at Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio (a border community) were scandalous.

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 realities of slavery.

Jessica Taylor as Harriet Beecher in Sons & Daughters of Thunder.

When school trustees slapped a gag order on the "Lane Rebels," most of the students left the school in collective protest.  Years later, Harriet's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was described by President Abraham Lincoln as the book that started the Civil War. The novel changed the course of American history by turning public sentiment in favor of abolition.

The film was shot in historic sites including the historic Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio, Augustana College's House on the Hill and Karpeles Manuscript Museum in Rock Island, Illinois, the Jenny Lind Chapel in Andover (Henry County), Dillon Home Museum in Sterling (Whiteside County). The majority of the actors and crew are from the Quad Cities area.

A world premiere of the film will take place in Cincinnati, Ohio and a special Quad Cities screening is tentatively planned for late 2018 or early 2019 on the Putnam Giant Screen in Davenport, Iowa.

Chris Ryder (Sound) slates a climactic scene in Sons & Daughters of Thunder.

Quad City Arts is dedicated to enriching the quality of life in the Quad City region through the arts. The organization’s dual role of presenting the arts and humanities, as well as serving as an arts resource, allows Quad City Arts to serve more than 350,000 people annually in the Arts Center in Rock Island and at over 200 community rural and urban community sites.  Support for Arts Dollars is provided by the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, John Deere and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Since 1990, Q-C Arts has awarded more than $1 million for local artists and nonprofit organizations to enrich the quality of life in the region through the arts.

The Moline Foundation serves as a catalyst and leader in encouraging philanthropy and channeling resources to meet the needs of the Quad Cities and the surrounding area.  The Moline Foundation serves the donors, citizens, and non-profit organizations in the counties of Rock Island, Henry, Mercer, Warren, Henderson, and McDonough in Illinois, and Scott County in Iowa.

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