Why Two Versions of One Film?

What happens when a true story becomes a dramatic new film, pointing directly to Christ, and is deemed too gritty for faith audiences?

The filmmakers of PURSUIT OF FREEDOM answered this question in a unique way – by creating two separate versions of the same film. The original version, the one that is “real and raw and definitely shows the darkness,” according to Writer and Director George Johnson, is Now available on VOD.
The less intense, “softer version” of Pursuit of Freedom is now in select theaters, and will also be available on DVD. This second version opens with a totally new scene at the beginning and features singer/songwriter/comedian Mark Lowry, familiar to faith audiences, who plays one of the key missionaries in the film.

“We brought the first cut to Kappa Studios.” George said, “and they did a lot of the final editing, several passes to cut 45 minutes from the film to make it an hour and a half long for distribution. They did color, sound, and helped create the two versions – masterfully finding a way to not confuse the two!”

PURSUIT OF FREEDOM is the true story of a Ukrainian mother abducted by Russian gangsters who kill her husband, and force her to survive years in an Amsterdam basement brothel.  She is separated from her three children, but never gives up hope of seeing them again, even though she becomes deathly ill. God works through his people in surprising ways with His miraculous rescuing and redeeming grace.

“It’s not what you would expect from a faith-based movie,” said George, a NATAS LGL Emmy award-winning director and head of Homesick Media. I stretch creatively to tell stories in a mainstream way with a strong message of God. It’s an exciting and difficult challenge,” he said, “creating stories that are not cheesy and that have mainstream appeal and are connecting to God.”
Mainstream critics are giving PURSUIT OF FREEDOM positive reviews, like Richard Propes, TheIndependentCritic.com. He writes, “Johnson tells the kind of story seldom seen in faith-based cinema and he tells it in a way that is jarringly honest and devastating.”

Executive Producer Lonnie Norris, who first heard the story as a missionary in Ukraine, said, “The more secular version still has solid faith in it. The message is pretty strong and clear, it’s about finding Jesus. We were told the film was too gritty, too edge-of-your-seat for faith audiences, with lots of action up front.” For the faith-audience version, he said, “We even removed the scene with the painful pulling of the mother’s abscessed tooth.”

While researching details for the writing of the film, Lonnie and George traveled to talk to key people in the story, even flying to Armenia to interview the abducted mother. As George tried to ask her questions he recalled, “She was still tender, and I didn’t push. It was not like CNN. She said they took her, and the kids got away. We don’t really know how her husband was murdered. But 90% of the film is true to story, with a bit of creative license. The scenes with the KGB in the airplane are all true, even though you might never believe that really happens.”

Following one of his earlier movies, HOMELESS FOR THE HOLIDAYS, “a sweet, Hallmark-style film,” George said he had a stirring in his spirit. He asked himself,  “Who’s going to make Christian movies that non-Christians can enjoy?” He’s excited PURSUIT OF FREEDOM is pursuing a wide audience. “It’s a great story that gets people to think about God. They’re moved by the story, and it might stick with them. One day it may draw them to Christ.”

Story by Karen Long
Kappa Studios Lead Writer
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