Los Angeles, CA (WLTX) - Actress Viola Davis and NBA superstar Steph Curry have joined forces to produce a documentary on the 2015 massacre at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC.
The film, titled "Emanuel," is set to be featured at DOC NYC, a festival for documentaries in New York that takes place November 14 and 15.
Davis' co-owned production company, JuVee Productions, and Curry's Unanimous Media were part of the effort to get the documentary to the screen.
On June 17, 2105 a white supremacist entered a bible study that was taking place at Mother Emanuel AME Church. After sitting in the service for an hour, he opened fire, killing nine of the members, including the pastor of the church, Rev. Clementa Pinckney. In interviews with police, he specifically said he targeted the church because it had black parishioners, and was historic in the community.
The killer was sentenced to death for his crimes, and is sitting in a federal penitentiary awaiting his eventual execution.
Previous coverage: Charleston church killer sentenced to death
According to a statement from the producers, the documentary features :"interviews with survivors and family members who were left to grapple with this senseless act of terror. Emanuel is a poignant story of justice and faith, love and hate, and the healing power of forgiveness."
“Emanuel is an incredibly powerful film and we’re honored to come on board as executive producers,” said Curry in a statement. “The documentary highlights how a horrible tragedy can bring a community together, and spreads an important message about the power of forgiveness. Stories like this are the reason we created Unanimous and entered the entertainment space. I hope the film inspires others like it does me.”
Viola Davis and Julius Tennon of JuVee Productions added “June 17, 2015 served as a stark reminder of the power of racism. That evening, a routine bible study at Emanuel Church was a soft target based solely on the racial profile of the congregation. We, along with the country, grieved each family's loss. Yet, miraculously, from this devastation we witnessed tremendous benchmarks of humanity. The survivors found courage to love in the face of hate. JuVee is proud to be a part of this healing and truth telling along with Unanimous Media, Brian Ivie and John Shepherd.”
Davis was born in South Carolina, and Curry spent much of his youth growing up near Charlotte, North Carolina.
