Brandon Cannon said he wasn’t expecting to draw a crowd earlier this year while shooting an accident scene in Cohutta for his second movie.
“They let us shut down a street, and the police department let people know it would be closed to shoot a movie,” he said. “I guess people thought it would be Tom Cruise or something. We were like ‘No, it’s us.'”
Cannon, a lifelong resident of Whitfield and Murray counties and chief investigator for the Conasauga Public Defender’s Office, and Ashley Langston, also of the area, wrote, produced, directed and filmed “Broken Gracefully.”
“It’s about two women, Rachel and Amy, who are both broken from past events in their lives,” he said. “But their lives collide in a fatal accident. In the end, God’s grace restores them.”
Before joining the Public Defender’s Office 13 years ago, Cannon was in law enforcement with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office and with the Conasauga District Attorney’s Office.
He said he’s always been a movie buff and long had a passion for creative writing.
“I think I wrote my first scripts when I was 12 or 13 years old,” he said
He has attended Welcome Hill Baptist Church in Dalton his entire life.
“In 2017, our pastor then, Randy Postell, said he wanted to get people more involved through what they were good at and what they felt led to do,” he said. “One of the things on his survey was drama, so I spoke with him. We began doing plays. We did them from 2017 to last year. As I got involved in that, the Lord led me to do films.”
“I made my first film, ‘Terminally Happy,’ a few years ago,” he recalled “We really didn’t know what we were doing. It was OK. But I said, ‘If we are going to do this, we are going to do this right.'”
He began taking classes at Tomorrow’s Filmmakers, an online film school.
“I did that for two years and learned cinematography. Ashley Langston, who is our director, learned how to direct,” he said. “We bought better equipment. It’s not quite Hollywood-level equipment but it is very good.”
“We started pre-production on ‘Broken Gracefully’ in November 2023. We did a table read with the cast,” he said. “We started filming in January and finished filming in July. And we just wrapped post-production.”
When it came to casting the film, Cannon turned to fellow church members.
Melissa Ensley, who portrays Rachel, worked with Cannon on his first film and in some of his plays, so she said she was eager to take part in “Broken Gracefully.”
“I enjoy the fellowship with everyone,” she said. “I enjoy being able to share the message of God’s love and God’s grace. Brandon is great to work with. He’s an excellent writer.”
This was the first time acting for Amy Johnson, who portrays Amy.
“Brandon didn’t know my life,” she said. “But when I got the script, I was shocked. Things that happen to Amy in the movie, happened to me. I said, ‘There’s no doubt this came from God.’ I’ve got to do this.”
The movie premieres Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. at the Colonnade theater in Ringgold, with other showings Saturday, Feb. 8, at 4 and 7:30 p.m. The movie is free. To reserve tickets, call Cannon at (706) 463-9307 or message him at the Facebook page for Soul Purpose Entertainment.
“We want people to see this,” Cannon said. “We’ve been going to churches in Whitfield and Murray counties to get the word out. We’re visiting one in Summerville. We want to get up into Ringgold to do some publicity.”