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Directed by John Jackman
Produced by Lovinder Gill
and Geoff Thompson
Music by Bruce Kiesling
Wesley, which was mostly filmed in Forsyth county, tells the story of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement. The film focuses on his early life and the personal struggles that lead to his spiritual transformation – and ultimately to revolutionary changes in England in ministry to the poor and outcast. Wesley’s movement included some of the first shelters for battered women and children, early recovery groups for alcoholics, free medical clinics, and ultimately led to the movement to abolish slavery.
The film features Winston-Salem native Burgess Jenkins (Remember the Titans, The Reaping) as the troubled young clergyman who travels to Georgia in the hopes of evangelizing the natives. There he falls in love with the beautiful young Sophy Hopkey (Carrie Anne Hunt), an affair that ends bitterly in a lawsuit. Searching for peace and true faith, Wesley is counseled by the Moravian missionaries who were living in Savannah, and then by Moravian Peter Boehler (Bill Oberst, Jr.) upon his return to London. Their influence leads to Wesley’s famous Aldersgate Experience, where he “felt his heart strangely warmed.”
The movie also stars television legend June Lockhart (Lassie, Lost in Space) as Wesley’s mother Susannah, and Golden Globe winner Kevin McCarthy (Death of a Salesman, Invasion of the Body Snatchers) as Bishop Ryder, who defends Wesley against attempts to defrock him and outlaw the fledgling renewal movement. Greensboro native R. Keith Harris (Big Fish, Junebug) portrays John’s brother Charles Wesley, whose own personal transformation leads him to become one of the most prolific hymn writers in history.
“Beautifully filmed.” – IMDB Review
“This movie may just stir you to deepen your spiritual roots. How many films do that?” - Dove Foundation Review
“Acting, music, cinematography and story stacks up with the best of Christian films…a class act!” – John Smith, Reading Eagle