By Caitlin Wolfe
DouglasNow.com
Sidney Bryant Sr., a 33-year-old pastor and Douglas native, is shooting a new faith-based movie in Douglas and Coffee County that is set to premiere in April or May of 2024. This latest project follows his 2022 film “Grace to Forgive,” which he released in November of 2022.
Sidney’s passion for filmmaking and camera work started when he was just 7 years old. He inherited his grandfather’s VHS camcorder. “I’d go in the yard and start videoing bugs, dogs, and birds. This is where it started,” he says. According to Sidney, once he reached 6th grade at West Coffee Middle School, he was allowed to spend every lunch period in the school’s newsroom. By the time he reached 7th grade, he took over their news program. Sidney added weather and sports to the program, taught other kids how to use the cameras and equipment, and even streamed a live 9/11 memorial service to the entire school.
It was a given that once Sidney reached Coffee High School, he would take part in leading the news program there as well. You could catch him at every football and basketball game, riding the golf cart up and down the fields, pacing the courts to film all of the plays and excitement. In 2008, Sidney’s senior year, he and the CHS news team had the idea to stream their Veteran’s Day program live to the Channel 3 news station. This had never been done before at Coffee High School and to their surprise, it was a success. “We were high school students. We were just having fun doing this stuff,” says Sidney.
After graduation, Sidney attended the Art Institute of Atlanta to live out his dreams of being behind the camera lens. Years passed and he returned to South Georgia. Now, Sidney is making faith-based feature films under his production company One Compelling Picture and spreading the message of his movies to not only locals but those watching from afar.
His new movie, called “Redwood,” is a faith-based movie that surrounds the events from February 23, 2020, when Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man from Brunswick, was chased down, shot, and killed by 3 white men. The writing process for “Redwood” started roughly 3 years ago and has taken countless hours of writing, planning, and coordinating to reach the filming stage.
During that time, Ahmaud’s killers have been found guilty of murder and hate crimes. With this case sparking a major turn of events not only in the state of Georgia but nationwide, Sidney has incorporated some surprising twists in hopes of really getting his message across. The primary message is, of course, “put God in the middle of everything.”
In this harrowing take on a heartbreaking story, Sidney hopes to reach not just the local community but the entire nation. “Not for the publicity, but for the sake of the message,” says Sidney when speaking of his hopes for “Redwood.” Scenes are being shot in Douglas and Broxton with a total of 16 crew members. Sidney and his team are working hard to bring viewers a feature film that will allow them to look at these situations from a different perspective of God, justice, and unity.
While his casting director Latrina Cope has already begun the casting process, Sidney states they are still in need of extras for the movie. The list for extras still needed are as follows: July 11th at Cherokee Hills Road (11am-1pm, 15+ people in funeral attire), July 13th at the CHS baseball field (6pm-10pm, 100+ people for Vigil scene), July 14th at the Coffee County Courthouse (8:30am-4:30pm, 50+ people), July 15th at the Douglas Police Department (5pm-10pm, 300+ people), July 17th at Sparky’s Diner (6pm-10pm, 20+ people), July 18th-21st at the Coffee County Courthouse (8:30am-4:30pm, 60+ people).