Major Adventist Film ‘The Rescue’ Wraps Up in Chile

By Francis Matos, South American Division, with Adventist Review staff

The first images have emerged from a major Seventh-day Adventist movie filmed in Chile and scheduled for worldwide release next year.

The script for “The Rescue,” which is produced by the Adventist Church’s South American Division, is being kept under wraps.

But the first clues about what filmmakers are billing an impressive rescue on an icy mountain can be seen in six newly released photos, which show an injured woman struggling in deep snow and the film crew working with a sled, an all-terrain vehicle, and a helicopter.

The film, which will be released in South America the week before Easter 2017, will be dubbed in six languages and distributed worldwide by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

“We usually organize a special evangelist project to share the gospel during the last week of Lent every year because people tend to be more sensitive to religious themes at this time,” said Felipe Lemos, director of the press office of the South American Division. 

“Next year we will have the movie about the rescue because our goal is show that Christ is the One who rescued us from sin. The movie is a different way to show the message of salvation,” Lemos said.

Church-owned Seven Films started production of the film about six months ago with a crew of about 25 people from Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Primary filming began on June 6 at locations in Chillán and at Chile Adventist University, where the film crew stayed.

An unseasonal lack of snow in southern Chile threatened to delay the project, but filming finished as scheduled late last month.

“We started by filming the indoor scenes, making adjustments so we could meet our schedule,” said Jefferson Nali, executive director of the film.

“The Rescue,” which will run about 45 minutes, tells the story of two young mountain climbers portrayed by actors Mauricio Pitanga and Daniela Paschoal, filmmakers said. Something unexpected happens to the couple, who are dating onscreen, and that prompts a third person played by actor Leonardo Goulart to also start climbing.

The film will premiere on the evening of Saturday, April 8, at small group meetings and in halls and churches across the South American Division, said Everon Donato, the project’s coordinator.