Is it possible to find joy and hope when everything around you is falling apart? Faith-based movie Miracle on Christmas sets out with stars Jason Burkey (well-known from the acclaimed I Can Only Imagine), Erin Bethea (seen in Fireproof and other films), Brett Varvel, Micah Lynn Hanson and a really cute dog to answer that oh-so-timely question as it unwraps a family tale of love, forgiveness and redemption.
Written by former TV journalist Thomas Bonifield and executive-produced by Ben Graham, senior pastor of Mt. Juliet’s Music City Baptist Church, the heartwarming story shows how young mother Mary (whose character name is likely not happenstance) finds herself in some of life’s most difficult circumstances when the family receives a visit from a charismatic visitor from “out-of-town.”
Bonifield is a Christian screenwriter who previously enjoyed a three-decade career in journalism, working as a producer for ABC News, the Fox News Channel and NBC News, where he also served as Moscow bureau chief and deputy foreign editor in New York. He also spent eight years as CEO of an international news agency in Istanbul, Turkey.
“The Lord most definitely blessed me richly in my journalism career, and I recognize clearly that His hand orchestrated every step of my 25-year plus journey,” he shares with the Pulse.
After spending extended time in a more strategic side of the business, “I began to miss the writing that was such a draw to journalism in the first place,” Bonifield continues. “I wanted to find a way to get back to writing . . . screenwriting was where God was leading me. After much prayer and discussion my wife and I decided to jump in with both feet, close the door on journalism and focus exclusively on this movie-making endeavor.”
Thus began the journey to bring some peace to the pieces.
“Miracle on Christmas is my sixth screenplay—I also wrote a couple of TV teleplays—and the first one that I have made into a movie, meaning it is my directorial debut,” he says. “While I certainly took a great deal of creative license in the storytelling, the catalyst for the script was, indeed, my own personal experience. When we were still living in Istanbul, my wife and I endured a particularly difficult year. We had a sense of true peace through the whole ordeal, which we only realized several months hence and immediately recognized as divinely inspired. If you watch the movie, you will recognize the similarities between my experience and those confronting the heroine—played by Erin Bethea—though my own response and the character’s are quite different.”
The casting was a team effort between Bonifield and producer Kevan Otto, a former Nashville resident. Film leads Jason Burkey and Erin Bethea also worked with Kevan and with Ben Graham on another movie, Fearless Faith. Both movies feature them as husband and wife. Music City Baptist Church recently held a movie night presentation for Fearless Faith and hopes to present Miracle on Christmas as well, although that is not for certain; for updates, visit facebook.com/musiccitybc.
Miracle on Christmas is available to stream now on Amazon and to purchase on DVD via Amazon or Walmart. For more information, visit miracleonchristmas.com.
