Helmut Huebener’s story comes alive in Truth and Conviction | New from Angel Studios

Truth & Conviction: Why We’re Making It – powered by Happy Scribe

You’ve just seen the proof of concept trailer for truth and conviction, which will be the first dramatic series about teenage resistance fighters in Nazi Germany.

It tells the true story of Helmuth Hübener who, at 16 years old, was willing to sacrifice his life to stand up for truth and freedom.

There will be more powerful scenes to follow, but I just wanted to take a moment and invite you to join us.

If you think this story should be.

A series, show your support, click or visit angel.com/truth and let us know.

How did you first discover the story of helmet Hübener?

I heard about an old man who was the last surviving member of a teenage Nazi resistance group named Carl heinzheniva. Heard that he lived less than an hour away from me. I just called him up on the phone, asked if he would be willing to share his story with me. He said, Yashua, come on up. So I went up to his house, sat down with him, and let him just share what his experience was as a 17 year old with his best friend, helmet Hugner, and another friend, Rudy, 15, 1617 years old, standing up against Hitler. And they weren’t using guns or fists to do it. They were using a typewriter.

I was scared. I was actually scared because we read in the newspaper every day how severely these people get punished. The Nazis, they don’t want you to know the truth. The truth was deadly in Germany, but I was nosy enough to want to know more.

The story that Carl told me that day has changed the rest of my life. I walked out of his house that day just knowing, we have to make this into a movie. We have to tell this story.

We’ve had the opportunity to become really close friends with Carl over the years. He would share these experiences that he had. He would often get this distant look in his eyes. You could tell he was back in those moments. But to hear this 80 year old man saying, this is what we did, that brings a reality to it, that it’s just not just the story, but people live this. What came out of that was this, not only we have to tell this story, but feel entrusted to tell the story from Karl. The screenplay is incredibly powerful. Matt Whitmer and his writing partner, Ethan Vincent, have really captured this engaging character piece set within Nazi Germany, and it’s gained the attention of Hollywood producers, including Jerry Mullen, who was the Academy award winner for Schindler’s list. He understands the power and the importance of telling stories from that era.

It’s really amazing to me to think this guy was 16, 125, 142. He was 16 years old. I had enough to realize that he wasn’t going to give in to something that he saw was wrong.

One of the most important parts of the story for me was Helmut’s friendship with Zalamun Shuat, who was Jewish. One day, Zalamon disappeared and Gestapo arrested him. And Helmut never saw his friend again.

We went to Church, to our Church house, and there was a sign on the door which read, Juden is a Sutra for bootin. Jesus not allowed to enter. And we had one Jewish member in Solomon Schwartz. And they didn’t let that young man in. He stood outside the door, and when we opened up, opening him, he was crying, but they didn’t let him in.

I wonder how I would feel if somebody took my best friend away. What would I do for Helmut? It was time to sit down and start typing up the truth. It wasn’t too long after Helmet started typing up these leaflets and putting them out that he realized he needed help. And so he went right to his two good friends, Carl Schneiver and Rudy VOBA, and asked him to help him.

Hamwood said, let’s make a promise. He who gets caught first takes the blame. Don’t incriminate anybody. And that sounds good to me because I thought, I’m cool. I was the oldest. I said, they don’t catch me. So I said, all right. So we went that night home with about 15 Flyers and Hammer Tyler on it. Hitler the murderer. Hitler is the guilty one. I put him in telephone boost. I put him in mailboxes the following Sunday in Church. He saw me coming, and he waved at me, and I David back. And he yelled to the Church, they haven’t arrested you yet, have they? And I said, Will you shut up? That was him joking.

They were dispersing these treasonous leaflets throughout Hamburg, Germany. They put them in phone, boots and mailboxes and sneak them in coat pockets at the opera, eluding the Gestapo for almost a year.

Eventually, they were caught. They went to trial. At a certain point, Hillary decided he had to stand up and he had to take the attention and focus all on himself to save his two friends. And so that’s exactly what he did. He stood up. He David what was right. And he let the consequences follow. Helmet was executed for standing up for truth. Carl and Rudy spent years in prison and in hard labor, an experience I’ll never forget was going with Carl back to Germany and visiting some of those places where he was held as a prisoner, as a 17 year old, but also visiting the site where Helmet was executed. And being there with Carl was truly moving. There was a bus load of teenagers that pulled up with their high school teacher, and they got out, and they were looking visiting this site. And he just immediately gathered all of his students around Carl and said, Tell us your story. To watch Carl tell them what he had done when he was their age was so powerful. They were getting it. That, for me, was when a seed was really planted. I began to realize that this isn’t just a powerful story.

This is a story that changes people who hear it. Just another quick invite. If you want to see this story made into a series, click or visit angel. Comtruth to show your support. Don’t worry, you’re not buying or committing to anything. We just need to gauge how many of you want to be a part of bringing this story to the world.

We are partnering with Baltic Films in Film of Lithuania to shoot truth and conviction. We produced two films with them previously and we’re excited to go back and work with a really great production partner. They previously produced HBO’s Chernobyl series as well as HBO’s John Adams miniseries, and the BBC’s warranties another partnership we’re very excited about is with Angel Studios. They’ve had such incredible success with the chosen series and we’re excited to bring this project to the global audience that they’ve been able to reach.

Our mission is to tell stories that amplify light. And when we saw the story of truth and conviction and what the creators behind that story, we realized that they were going to be able to tell a story that has those same principles that the chosen and any other project that amplifies light. And it’s a story that needs to be told today. It’s a story that matters now.

Hamwood had big blue eyes. I mean, really big, dark blue eyes. And I never saw Hamwood emotionally. He never showed his emotion when something happened. And when I put my arms around him, I told him what I see. Pretty soon his eyes filled with tears and he said to me, I hope you have a better life and a better Germany. And then he cried.

We talk about stories like Helmet’s story of someone sacrificing their life for someone else. I’ve always felt that there was like this across humanity. It’s like there’s this deep connection with those kinds of stories. For me, that’s what helmet did. At some point, he must have known he was going to be sacrificing his life to do that. But he did it anyway. That compels me to tell this story.

I personally am asking you to get this made, to get it out there. Let the world understand what this young German kid did in 1942. Talk to your friends and tell them. Even though he died in 1942, his example of courage, of character, of commitment we’re talking about today. I love what he’s about. I want to be just like him.

Thanks for watching. Help us share this powerful story to honor Helmut, Carl and Rudy and hopefully inspire a new generation to express your interest in this series. Click now or go to angel.com Truth to show your support. You.

1. Truth & Conviction, written by the award-winning screenwriter of Saints and Solders, is the first dramatic series about teenage resistance fighters in Nazi Germany.
2. This series will capture one of the most powerful stories to come out of WWII. Driven by the disappearance of his Jewish friend, a 16-year-old boy named Helmuth Hübener takes a stand for truth. His brave resistance leads him all the way to the highest court in Nazi Germany.
3. This story is virtually unknown and needs to be told. It impacts everyone who hears it, but especially the rising generation. Teenagers feel a deep connection to one of their peers taking a stand for truth and freedom. It brings all of us to ask the questions: “What would I have done? And what can I do now?”
4. All people of faith, and particularly Christians, are moved by Helmuth’s description of Jesus: “He was filled with grace AND truth. He said what needed to be said. He stood up. But he did it peacefully.” Helmuth’s efforts are a shining example of peaceful resistance and the power of the written word.
5. In order to do this story justice, we’re pulling from direct sources such as the PBS documentary Truth & Conviction: The Helmuth Hübener Story, Nobel Laureate Gunter Gräss; and in depth interviews with Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, the last surviving member of the Hübener Group and one of Helmuth’s best friends.

Angel Studios Presents: Truth & Conviction – powered by Happy Scribe

Amazing.

He had the power and his speeches.

To move the masses. As he listens to BBC, he is immediately convinced that they’re telling the truth.

My friend Hermit Bar, that was his Christian obligation. Proof warned the people. And then he opened the door and there comes my friend Woody. And I said, Woody, what are you doing here? He is the third in our group. I said, what do you mean, the third? Who’s the second? And him who Typed on it? Hitler the murderer. Hitler is the guilty one.

The first thing we see is that.

He’S emerged from some kind of a process as a full blown anti nuts. He puts the prefix Ver on the front of the word Fuja, which means that Whitmer is now the seducer of the people.

I opened the door and there’s two guys with that long, dark leather coat. And he lift up his lapel from the coat, and there was the badge behind the starts. Put it, stop hole. The Nazis, they don’t want you to know the truth. The truth was deadly.

Hello, and welcome to the first inaugural Oliver Stream of the Truth and Conviction series. My name is Matt Whitaker. I’m the director and co writer of the series. And as our first guest on our first Oliver Stream, we have none other than the co founder and CEO of Angel Studios, Neil Harmon. Neil, great to have you here.

Thanks for having me on that.

Thank you. In fact, I was just thinking not to make it overly romantic, but it feels kind of like we finally found each other when Angel Studios and Kaleidoscope Pictures figured out, you know what, we want to work together on this project. And it might be interesting just to talk a little bit about that, just to the fact that our offices are like a five minute walk apart. I know from our perspective, we were thinking, man, those guys down there at Angel Studios, they’re doing great things. We should try and meet them and just see if there’s some synergy and we could work together. I’d be interested to hear your recollection of kind of how that happened, how we ended up here on a live stream.

Do you mind if I go back.

A little bit this time? Yeah.

So I’ll start back. When I watched this movie called Saints and Soldiers, and a friend recommended this film to me. And when I watched it, I thought, wow, this is a great film. It was a wartime World War II film that told the story of somebody who was dealing with the horrors of battle but also had their own faith. And they came to know somebody on the enemy side in a real intimate way and saw them as another person and as another believer. And just a heartwrenching inspiring story that was produced well, written, beautifully. And I was thrilled when I found out that it wasn’t a Hollywood movie because I thought it was a Hollywood movie. And when I met John and Russ, we went to Station 22, my partners.

On the Conviction series. That’s right. Yeah.

So we went to Station 22 right here on Center Street in Provo, had breakfast together. And then they said we told them about the angel model, how this is about helping the outcast from Hollywood, about letting the audience decide what they want made and allowing messages that really matter to get broad distribution in the world. So we shared this vision with John and Russ. And John and Russ said, you know what? We’ve got to do a follow up meeting. You need to meet somebody. And that somebody was Matt Whitaker. When we got into their room, like you said, we’re five minutes away in you guys office, in an older library, and we’re in an old building. So we had that connection between us. And then when I met you and found out that it was the writer of Saints and Soldiers, for me, it was a moment of just being grateful to meet you, grateful for what your life had led up to, to be able to tell these stories in this way. I’m humbled to be on this journey with you.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. And Saints and Soldiers. I was the screenwriter on that. I’d written other scripts before that, but that was my first World War II story that I had written and ended up being a really good experience. A very small film that looks like a very big film.

That’s right. It was a very successful independent film. Independent films aren’t very often financially successful.

But that one was all the investors in that one were very happy that they were not only because they made their money back and made a profit, but also because it ended up being a beautiful film and a story well told. And they were grateful to have been a part of that. So anyway, that was kind of like my first foray into World War II stories. And it was just right about that same time when I found the story of how Helmuth Hubener and what he did and for me was just once I heard from the last surviving member of this resistance group. Once I heard his story, it’s like, okay, it was one of those experiences where you hear a story and you go, somebody should make a movie about that. That’s right. That’s what I do for a living. I’m going to do that. So it really wasn’t a matter of saying, okay, we’re going to make this story. I’m curious to ask you, Neil, once we sat down at the same table and said, hey, here’s the story of this teenager in Nazi Germany who stood up against Hitler and stood up for truth.

I’m just interested to get your perspective on why you felt I can remember you and Jeff looking at each other and going, yeah, this story I’m interested to hear from your perspective why you felt like this was such a good fit for Angel Studios for the Angel Model.

That’s a really great question, Matt. The first thing that happened is when I realized and researched the story of Hugner and then knowing my memory of watching Saints and soldiers and experiencing that story that you were the screenwriter for, it was like it lit a fire into me. Like, I know the work of Clydesco Pictures and how good of work they have done previously, and they’ve done a World War II piece before that looks beautiful. And I just thought, oh, wow.

These.

People are the creators who are meant to tell this story. And when that happens, for me, it’s almost like a spiritual experience for me. And I just get so excited. And there’s something about the creative process and me and my appreciation for the way in which people can tell stories.

I just got so excited about it.

And the other thing that was kind of playing into that for Jeffrey, for me is that we had experienced recently in our society the first signs of a desire to suppress speech that I’ve known in my history growing up. I grew up loving and reading about the American founding and the principles on which this country was founded and those first principles around your faith and your ability to speak and to freely assemble the Bill of Rights. It just seems so timely to tell this story when America has to ask itself some very hard questions about how much it truly believes in its own principles and what better way to tell that story for this kid who put his own life on the line for what was right and for the people to say, we want to see that storytelling.

I love that. Yeah. The fact that, again, it is thousands and thousands of people who say, yeah, it’s time to tell that story.

Yes.

And I just love that’s. One of the things that one of the many things that I love about Angel’s Model is the trust that your team genuinely puts in the crap in people saying that’s a story that we want to tell. That’s why we were so grateful when we heard that the crowd that the jury said, yes, we want to see Truth and Conviction. And I was very gratifying to reach that point.

If the audience will indulge me for 1 second indulge, I’ll just add because I know Matt and John and Russ won’t, but we had an event recently. It was our first annual Illuminate 2020. And we’ve decided to do an award every year on the highest rated short film. We call it a torch, the highest rated torch for the year by the jury. And Truth and Conviction just Lisa won that award this year. And so we’re just really happy that the audience has responded so well to it that’s 50,000 people who are investors in Angel Studios are in different projects who have watched, who had the chance. We randomly select a group from them, and then they have a chance to rate it after watching it. And it was the highest rated.

I guess not surprised. But Gratified, I’ve known for so many years, this is a powerful story. I think the world wants to hear a story like this, but when you get those kind of things happening, it was pretty cool. And I know that there are a lot of Angel Studios fans who are tuning in. And so I’m welcome I’m grateful to have you all here as well. I wanted to I just kind of talk about what for me is one of the most important parts of the story, personally, was we have this 16 year old kid, Helmuth Hubener, and his two best friends. But he had another friend named Salemon Schwartz, who was Jewish. And of course, this is Nazi Germany, and they all went to Church together. Actually, this is a young Jewish man who had converted to Christianity, and they all went to Church together. And one day, his Jewish friend was taken and was arrested by the Gestapo, and he never saw him again, which ended up being the catalyst for him to start his resistance movement. He was seeing things before that that didn’t make sense. His brother had smuggled home a shortwave radio, his brother who served in the German Army and smuggled home a shortwave radio from France.

And it didn’t work, but Helmet was this really bright kid. And so he got into took it apart. He could fix it. Yeah, fixed it. And then started tuning into the BBC broadcast because the BBC at the time was broadcasting on shortwave in the German language. And so he was tuning in and hearing and immediately knowing what they’re telling you is the truth. What I’m hearing Gerbil say on the People’s radio is propaganda, and this is the truth. So he was already getting those things, but it was when his Jewish friend Zalamon was taken that was for him the last straw. And I’d like to show everybody we actually shot some concept footage. And one of the scenes that we shot from the script was the scene when his friend Zalamon, just before he’s being arrested, he can hear them coming into his home, hear his mother trying to keep them away as he’s sitting in his bedroom and knowing that they’re coming. And I just always can’t imagine how frightening, completely terrifying that would be to know that they’re coming for you. So I want to show everybody that scene. I know that you need to go.

I want to thank you so much, Neil, for coming. I’m so grateful to be in a partnership with Angel Studios. So thank you.

The pleasure is ours. Thank you.

Thanks very much. Yes. And so take a look at this. This is, again, some proof of concept footage. The scene when Helmet’s good friend Zalamon was arrested listed. And it’ll be followed by just a little pitch video that we did that’s got myself and my partners, Russ Kendall and John Foss, who will meet in just a few minutes, kind of talking in more detail about how we found the story and why we’re just dedicated to telling it. So here’s Zalamun’s arrest.

You’ve just seen the proof of concept trailer for Truth and Conviction, which will be the first dramatic series about teenage resistance fighters in Nazi Germany. It tells the true story of Helmuth Hubener, who, at 16 years old, was willing to sacrifice his life to stand up for truth and freedom. There will be more powerful scenes to follow, but I just wanted to take a moment and invite you to join us. If you think this story should be a series, show your support. Click or visit angel.com Truth and let us know how did you first discover this story of Helmuth Hubener?

I heard about an old man who was the last surviving member of a teenage Nazi resistance group named Karl Heinzneva. Heard that he lived less than an hour away from me. I just called him up on the phone, asked if he would be willing to share his story with me. He said, Yeshua, come on up. So I went up to his house, sat down with him, and let him just share what his experience was as a 17 year old with his best friend, Helmuth Hubener, and another friend, Rudy, 15, 1617 years old, standing up against Hitler. And they weren’t using guns or fists to do it. They were using a typewriter.

I was scared. I was actually scared because we read in the newspaper every day how severely these people get punished. The Nazis, they don’t want you to know the truth. The truth was deadly in Germany, but I was nosy enough to want to know more.

The story that Carl told me that day has changed the rest of my life. I walked out of his house that day just knowing we have to make this into a movie. We have to tell this story.

We’ve had the opportunity to become really close friends with Carl over the years. He would share these experiences that he had. He would often get this distant look in his eyes. You could tell he was back in those moments. But to hear this 80 year old man saying, this is what we did, that brings a reality to it, that it’s just not just the story, but people live this. What came out of that was this, not only we have to tell this story, but Phil entrusted to tell the story from Karl. The screenplay is incredibly powerful, and that Whitmer and his writing partner, Ethan Vincent, have really captured this engaging character piece set within Nazi Germany. And it’s gained the attention of Hollywood producers, including Jerry Mullin, who was the Academy award winner for Schindler’s List. He understands the power and the importance of telling stories from that era.

It’s really amazing to me to think this kid was 16, 125, 142. He was 16 years old. I had enough to realize that he wasn’t going to give in to something that he saw was wrong.

One of the most important parts of the story for me was Helmut’s friendship with Isalamun Shuat, who was Jewish. One day, Zalamon disappeared. Gestapo arrested him, and Helmuth Hubener saw his friend again.

We went to Church, to our Church house, and there was a sign on the door which read, Judy said, Sutrad for Boudin Jews not allowed to enter. And we had one Jewish member in our brand, Solomon Schwarz. And they didn’t let that young man in. He stood outside the door, and when we opened up, opening him, he was crying, but they didn’t let him in.

I wonder how I would feel if somebody took my best friend away. What would I do for Helmut? It was time to sit down and start typing up the truth. It wasn’t too long after Helmet started typing up these leaflets and putting them out that he realized he needed help. And so he went right to his two good friends, Carl Schniver and Rudy VOBA, and asked him to help him.

Hanwood said, let’s make a promise. He who gets caught first takes the blame. Don’t incriminate anybody. And that sounds good to me because I thought, I’m cool. I was the oldest. They don’t catch me. So I David. All right. So we went that night home with about 15 Flyers, and Henry Typed on it, Hitler the murderer. Hitler is the guilty one. I put him in telephone booth. I put him in mailboxes. The following Sunday in Church, he saw me coming, and he David at me, and I waved back, and he yelled to the Church, they haven’t arrested you yet, have they? And I said, Will you shut up? That was joking.

They were dispersing these treasonous leaflets throughout Hamburg, Germany. They’d put them in phone booths and mailboxes and sneak them into coat pockets at the opera, eluding the Gestapo for almost a year.

Eventually, they were caught. They went to trial. At a certain point, Helmet decided he had to stand up, and he had to take the attention and focus all on himself to save his two friends. And so that’s exactly what he did. He stood up. He did what was right, and he let the consequences follow. Helmet was executed for standing up for truth. Carl and Rudy spent years in prison and in hard labor, an experience I’ll never forget was going with Carl back to Germany and visiting some of those places where he was held as a prisoner, as a 17 year old, but also visiting the site where Helmet was executed. And being there with Carl was truly moving. There was a bus load of teenagers that pulled up with their high school teacher, and they got out and they were looking visiting this site. And he just immediately gathered all of his students around Carl and said, tell us your story. To watch Carl tell them what he had done when he was their age was so powerful, they were getting it. That for me was when a seed was really planted. I began to realize that this isn’t just a powerful story.

This is a story that changes people who hear it. Just another quick invite. If you want to see this story made into a series, click or visit angel. Comtruth to show your support. Don’t worry, you’re not buying or committing to anything. We just need to gauge how many of you want to be a part of bringing this story to the world.

We are partnering with Baltic Films in Film of Slthuania to shoot Truth and Conviction. We produced two films with them previously, and we’re excited to go back and work with a really great production partner. They previously produced HBO’s Chernobyl series, as well as HBO’s John Adams miniseries, and the BBC’s warranties another partnership we’re very excited about is with Angel Studios. They’ve had such incredible success with The Chosen series, and we’re excited to bring this project to the global audience that they’ve been able to reach.

Our mission is to tell stories that amplify light. And when we saw the story of Truth and Conviction and what the creators behind that story, we realized that they were going to be able to tell a story that has those same principles that The Chosen and any other project that amplifies light. And it’s a story that needs to be told today. It’s a story that matters now.

Hamilton had big blue eyes. I mean, really big dark blue eyes. And I never saw Hamwood emotionally. He never showed his emotion when something happened. And when I put my arms around him, I told him what I see. Pretty soon, his eyes filled with tears, and he said to me, I hope you have a better life and a better Germany. And then he cried.

You know, we talk about stories like Helmuth’s story of someone sacrificing their life for someone else. I’ve always felt that there was like this across humanity. It’s like there’s this deep connection with those kinds of stories. For me, that’s what Helmet did. At some point, he must have known he was going to be sacrificing his life to do that, but he did it anyway. That compels me to tell this story.

I personally am asking you to get this made, to get it out there. Let the world understand what this young German kid did in 42. Talk to your friends and tell them. Even though he died in 1942, his example of courage, of character, of commitment we’re talking about today. I love what he’s about. I want to be just like him.

Thanks for watching. Help us share this powerful story to honor Helmut, Karl and Rudy, and hopefully inspire a new generation to express your.

Interest in this series.

Click now or go to angel. Comtruth to show your support.

Hey, welcome back, everybody. Thanks for taking a few minutes to watch that scene with Zalimon when he gets arrested. Obviously, I directed it. I made it a little behind the scenes information. The actor who portrayed Solomon in that is my co writer, Ethan Vincent, with whom wrote the script for this series, also a really good actor. It’s always fun for me to see it. I’ve seen it hundreds of times. And yet every time I watch it, it gets to me. There’s something really powerful about what that must have meant. So if you haven’t had a chance yet, go and check out angel. Comtruth. And if you’d like to express your interest in this project, this is a good time to do that. When you go there, you’ll see there’s a little website where you can watch it. Or if you want to share this with family or friends who might be interested in this kind of story, they’ll be able to see right off the zombie scene and then the pitch video that you just barely were able to watch, they’ll see that. Then you can scroll down and get more information about the filmmakers behind this and what kind of project this is going to be and that kind of thing.

So again, I would just encourage you go check it out at angel. Comtruth. And if you would like to pledge your support, of course. We really appreciate that. I’m grateful. Finally, this is being our first livestream. It’s also my first time ever doing a live stream. And it was great having Neil here earlier, but it’s a little lonely sitting here by myself. So I’m going to invite to join me, my two partners on this project, my cohorts in crime, if you will, Russ Kendall and John Foss, who have been with me on this journey for a long, long time. Hey, guys, welcome. It’s great to have you here. It’s great that the technology is working. And I guess if I can maybe just to kind of turn it over to you a little bit and let each of you explain what your roles are on this project and why you’re here.

Yeah, you bet. Yeah. Russ Kendall, I’m a producer on the film, and that’s probably about 20 years ago, Carl’s account of what he and Ruth Helmet did. And I just remember sitting out, just immersed, and the overwhelming thought just kept going through my mind of what if that was me, would I recognize what they recognize, what I do something about it. I was a young father at the time, and I’m thinking what I put myself in jeopardy with my family in jeopardy to stand up, what was the truth? And I think we all want to think we would stand up and do what’s right when it’s due or die from that point, just compelled to tell the story. And was a short time later that Matt reached out, and maybe he can tell in the really incredible way he reached out to invite me to the project.

Well, my recollection is I had done the documentary for PBS, and the story will not let go of me. And it’s like, okay, we got to tell this in a big way that we will get this out to the whole world. And you and I had worked together on a lot of projects over the years, internationally traveled all over the world. And I just thought, I need help and I need Russ Kendall to be a part of this. So my recollection is that I spared no expense, and I took you out to Subway for lunch, I believe. Is that right?

Yeah. I guess what I took from that is he’s not a cheapskate. He’s a director that has respect for budgets.

That’s what it is important. That’s the positive spin. I appreciate that. Yeah. But I just remember that’s where I just kind of David it out and said, hey, do you want to go down this journey together? Should we make this? At the time, we were saying, should we make this movie? And thank heavens you said yes.

Absolutely.

And then, John, what was your I’m sorry. Go ahead, Russ.

No, I’m just glad we did it.

Yeah. John, I know that we were a little bit down the road when you came on. Remind me exactly. Kind of how that happened. Yes.

Well, I mean, you and Russ had created that partnership and already had gone down the road. I was introduced to Russ and Kylesco Pictures a little while later on another film. And when I came in to join the team at Kaleidoscope at that time, this one human had a bit more momentum. And I learned about the project then and felt so inspired by it. I wanted to join that project, too. In fact, that one kind of took off for a bit. So I joined the team at that time just shortly after well, not shortly after, but sometime after you and Russ started going gangbusters on this. I remember meeting Carl, actually, at one point. I remember there was a social event that was downtown Salt Lake City. And I remember meeting him. He was taller than I was, and he just had this very soft, gentle demeanor about him. Such a wonderful, brilliant, kind man. And I hear the stories that you two share about him, your interactions with him. And I can totally see that flash forward just a little bit more as I started the scripts. Matt, you’ve written and you and Ethan have written different iterations of the script over the years, and it’s kind of gone this direction of a TV series, of a limited TV series now.

But I remember reading in one of those earlier drafts helmets looking to Carl it’s toward the end of the story, but it was like kind of in that prison moment. And he challenged Carl in your screenplay. He challenges Carl to never forget what they had done. And I think in real life, Carl maybe has a story that’s somewhat similar to that, but those words really stuck out to me, and they really just kind of attach themselves to me personally because, as you’ve mentioned, well, Carl has since passed on, and that story kind of still lives out there. But because of that personal relationship that you and we have had with Carl, I just kind of feel like that challenge, that charge from Helmet that he gave to Carl has kind of been away come to us. And I really felt that deeply and personally, that responsibility to never forget what they did. It’s a powerful story, and it’s one that we’ve been trying to tell for quite some time. But I’m so grateful that where we are now sharing this story with all of those that are watching, and we can continue to build our audience for those who are interested in telling it.

But we also have a great distribution partner with angel, who has a great model to reach audiences around the world.

Yeah. Thank you, John. Yeah. Those words and Carl being a 17 year old at the time and then Rudy being a 15 year old at the time, they both remember those final moments with Helmuth Hubener. He said something to the effect of remember what we did, never forget this, and then saying, you almost predicting, or dare I say, prophesying, you will have a better life in a better Germany. And just that powerful, those powerful words, really final words to his two best friends and to never forget. Russ, I know that you and I probably one of the greatest blessings of this whole process has been the friendship that we were able to form with Carl over the years. What a gift that that’s been.

That smile is incredible.

It is one of those things, especially in trying to tell a true story like this and to be able to be there with somebody who was there, I think it’s easy to forget or to really not understand that these things really happened. And then to know that once you sit down with someone like Carl or once you visit some of the cells with him that he was actually held in, those are very powerful moments that we don’t forget. So that, for me, has been one of the great rewards.

I see that we’ve got some visuals.

Coming up, maybe Rush, you can tell us about we’re going to be shooting this in Vilnius, Lithuania. Actually, the story took place in Hamburg, but in Hamburg, Germany, but we’re not shooting it in Hamburg. Do you want to just take a minute and talk about why we’re shooting it in Lithuania and kind of how that came about?

Absolutely.

Well, when we started this project out, we were looking for locations that could double for Hamburg, Germany, in the early 1940s. And so we scouted Germany, we scouted Romania, Hungary and throughout Western Europe, hadn’t ventured too far into Eastern Europe, went to Poland. And for a time we were looking at Budapest, jumped forward a couple of years, and we had another feature film that we were producing that took place in 18th century Russia. And so that took us to find locations where it went to Finland, Latvia, to Russia, and to try and recreate some very authentic locations for that picture. It was called Winter Thaw. And when we were there, I was staying in the old town area of Villainous. And as I was walking the streets and just wandering around enjoying a new city, I’m looking at this place, I’m just like, this looks like Hamburg. And I started taking pictures and sent them over to Matt. And I said, you got to come check this out. And so Matt came in and my.

Recollection was, dude, check this out. This text with these photos. Oh, my gosh, you didn’t even need to say what you were talking about. I knew exactly what you meant.

You knew. And Matt was out there within a week. We got a location Scout and he went scouting his picture up. Right now that is an actual prison cell. Very much looks like cells that Carl and Rudy held in when they were prisoners of Nazi Germany. So a wonderful place for us to tell this story. And we actually went back there the following year for another picture, another World War Two story of conviction and standing up and called Instrument of War, which Matt brought him onto. Right. And John and I were over there. And again, while we were there, we’re moonlighting, looking for locations and just projecting ahead. How are we going to tell Helmet’s story here? We have a wonderful partner which we talked about in our trailer video with Baltic Film Services. They are well oiled machine and have produced not only the pictures we’ve shot with them, but pictures for BBC Stranger Things, season four, HBO Chair Noble. And so we’ve got a great partner. And they’re excited about this. That’s so important is the partners. Not only is this just another gig for them, they care about this story. We get regular emails from our partner there.

Gary. Just saying how’s the humor story coming? We got to tell this. This has to be told. Having that connection and enthusiasm and sense of purpose from our production partner is so cool and important. And again, shout out to angel and those watching. Thank you. Again, it’s a partnership to make this happen and to tell this story. I appreciate it.

And speaking of shout outs, thank you, Russ. I’m just seeing there that. Thank you to Eric, who just pledged $5,000. Dude, thank you. I’m just seeing these wonderful people who are pledging. And we’re just very grateful. Nathan just pledged $500. So again, thank you. Those if you haven’t had a chance yet, go to angel. Comtruth. And if this is something if this is the kind of story that you’re thinking to yourself, man, somebody should make a movie about this. Well, we’re making a series about it. And so I’d invite you to go over there and check that out, something that is very personal to me, not just about this story, but about World War II in general. You guys both know that I’m kind of a World War II nut. The reason for that. And I didn’t realize this until I was a little older. But the reason for that is my dad. My dad was part of the Greatest Generation. He was a World War II bomber pilot. He flew B. That’s him on the right, on the far right in that little photo soon when he was just a baby and on the left there.

But when he was 18 years old, he had to beg his mom. When Pearl Harbor got hit, he begged his mom to let him. He was still 17, and he begged his mom to sign off so that he could go and sign up to go and try and defend Liberty and freedom wherever that took him. And so he finally talked her into it. And he signed up and joined the Army Air Corps and became a pilot on B 24 bombers. He was based in Italy and flew missions over Austria and Romania and parts of Germany. And you look at that photo. He’s 20 years old, piloting this big, huge beast of an airplane with nine or ten other men whose lives depend on him. The irony for me is that when I was growing up, he didn’t really talk about it that much. I knew that he’d been a pilot in World War II, but again, I was a teenager, and it was all about me. I just thought my dad was just kind of this nerdy math teacher at the local high school. But every once in a while, there’d be these little glimpses that would remind me of what he actually had done.

I remember one time when I think I was like 14 or 15, and I was starting to get into what cars were cool and everything. My dad didn’t drive a cool car, but I was sitting with him in the car one day. We were at a stop sign and this BMW drives past. And I said, that’s a cool car. And my David said, well, what is it? And I said, It’s a BMW, dad. It’s a Beamer. That’s Bavarian Motorworks, right? And I was stunned that my uncool dad would know that. And I was like, yes, that is what that stands for. How did you know that? And he said, oh, we used to bomb them. Well, during World War II, the Bavarian Motorworks was making tanks for the Nazis. And so on some mission, that was what my dad was doing. So I would get these little reminders from time to time that my dad did something that I don’t fully understand. But again, he didn’t talk about it much. Very typical of his generation. He didn’t say much about it. And it wasn’t until he retired and was really in his seventy s and moving into his 80s that he started sharing these stories of what he had done.

And I find out that he’d been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He had two Purple Hearts, just this amazing experience that he had being part of a team that saved the world. So then I began to understand why World War II stories meant so much to me. So when we found this story, it’s just something that spoke deep to my soul. And I felt a connection with my father, who has passed away now, as most veterans of World War II have. But as Helmut said to his friends, we need to remember. We need to remember what they did, what so many did to try and preserve freedom and stand up for what was right. I don’t know. It might be helpful, you guys, maybe just to talk a little bit about our influences, what kind of movie we really are trying to make here, what kind of a series this is going to be, some of the influences that I mean, I see a film like, well, Schindler’s List. I see a film like Schindler’s List. And it was so gratifying when Gerald Mullen, the producer of Schindler’s List, read our script and said, this is one of the most powerful scripts I’ve ever read.

You guys have to make this movie. How can I help those kinds of things? But maybe I can just kind of throw it out to you, too. What are some of your influences? And you’re thinking this is the kind of story we want to tell. This is what we want to do. Just throw that at you.

So I’m thinking of swing kids. Not necessarily. That’s like totally the direction we want to go. I’m thinking about the experience that I’ve had when I’ve watched that film. And even now as a parent, because I’m a parent of teenagers, and my daughter, who’s 15 years old, she loves World War II history and she’s also a dancer. And watching that kind of film with her, which we haven’t yet. And it’s something I want to do. That kind of story, that kind of storytelling is something that I want to experience with my children. And that’s why I think of that movie, because I want this series to be able to be viewed not just by people who love World War II stories or people who love period dramas. But this is something that I imagine the parents can watch with their children and where there’s some sort of entertainment value to it, where they can see something that a contemporary teenager is doing to stand up for what they feel is right. I mean, Helmet was standing up against institution, not just politically, but in his community, in his religion. He was standing up for what he felt was right.

And that’s the kind of thing that I see in a movie like Swing Kids, where people are just where the kids had so much conviction in what they were doing. But anyway, that’s a movie that just comes to mind. And as I related personally.

Yeah, cool. Russ, any favorites that you feel like, hey, we should make it like that?

Well, I know the reaction of my kids, especially my son Ari to early teens preteens. And he actually loves World War Two story, then World War I actually one of his favorite movies, 17, which is really interesting. He’s twelve.

Wow, that’s so cool.

Anyway, for our kids to see something where they can see themselves in it, that’s huge. As a parent, I think that’s what we do with this. And it’s a story like Gandhi and Braveheart, these where there’s this selfless sacrifice, and if our kids can find somebody in media that they can look up to and resonate with, that’s huge. And what I’m particularly excited about with this, we’ve talked about how it started as a feature film. Now, doing it in four parts series is really going to give us that opportunity to dive deeper into the motivations of Helmet, of Carl, Rudy and some of the sub characters and really flesh out that world because it wasn’t black and white, just good, Jesus, evil. There was a great area in there of good people that maybe didn’t see the truth. We’re doing horrible things on their day job and came home and they’re loving parents. There’s some really interesting complex worlds and characters that we’re going to explore with this. At the heart of being seeing through all of the noise that’s out there and finding truth and knowing you had to do something about it. And that’s what I’m hoping my kids can see and get excited about.

Yeah, jump onto that, too, because we’re talking about we’ve mentioned our partnership with angel, and I think one of the reasons why we’re so excited, just as creators, is that the angel model really does lend itself to the creators where we can stick to our vision. Even as a distributor, they’re not so much in control of that creative per se. They see the story, they trust the creators, the directors, the producers, and they’re out there to tell that story, to tell. That the vision of what the creators really want to say with their stories. So there’s a great partnership there. And that’s one of the reasons why I feel like we’re so excited about that partnership is that there’s mutual trust. They’ll trust that we’re going to deliver something that is meaningful and important to us on a scale that’s on a quality scale, and they’re going to do their end in reaching people around the world.

Thank you, John. Yeah, I totally agree. Can you guys see these pledges that are popping up here? I don’t know if you guys can see that where you are, but Dave, thank you. Dave just pledged 500. Sonya pledged 500. So cool to see this work. I’ve watched other live streams. Angel Studios does such a good job with them. And of course, I’ve watched like The Chosen. And to see Dallas Jenkins on there and to see all these people pledging and even as powerful as we know that this story is, there’s a part of me that’s like, are people really going to pledge, you know what I mean? Are they really going to do it? And to see it happening, to see it working is just great. So again, if you haven’t had a chance yet, go to angel. Comtruth and express your interest. If this is the kind of film, that kind of series that you want to see made, I would invite you to do that. I know that some of you have been making comments, and in just a couple of minutes, we’re going to have a little Q and A and see if we can answer some of your questions, as many as we can.

So go ahead and just put that comment down in the notes. If you can, go ahead and if you can like this, share it. Make comments below. All of those things will help us to get out to more people. So we appreciate that as well. I guess now would be a good time if we want to. If there are any questions that have been posted, we’ll see what we do.

It says Grace. It’s actually one of the television shows that we produce, a classic picture. Russ is a producer and director of it. And I just like how it fits. And it’s also a really cool show. So I just wear it today.

That’s perfect. Yeah. If you like really good Christian music and just really good, inspiring music, search for Grace notes. It’s awesome. Thanks for the plug, man. That was great question. Another question says, can you guys expand on the storyline? Yeah. Russ, you want to take that on what this story is?

Sure the writer should do it, but yeah, I’m sure.

I’ll interrupt you.

Yeah. In 1941, at the height of Nazis power, Hitler’s power, there was no indication that they would lose. And the 16 year old Helmuth Hubener was a brilliant young man. And as Matt mentioned earlier, he got a hold of a shortwave radio and he started listening to BBC broadcast from the German that gave a very time of the war. And he started hearing not only the Allied victories, but also how the Allies are, what casualties they were receiving and what was happening to the Nazis. And just a very different account of the war. And he began to be convinced that Hitler was lying. And he was taught all his life to stand up for truth, to let the consequences follow, choose what is right. And he decided to do that. And he was a brilliant kid. His only weapon was the typewriter. And so he started typing up Flyers that very articulately denounced Hitler, laying out arguments of why Germany would lose the war and how he was deceiving the people and by himself. He started dispersing these Flyers and then gathered his two buddies to help him. And for about a year, they alluded to Gestapo, which is the highest level of military police, just ruthless individuals.

And they were eventually caught tortured. They were to give up to say, who are you working for? Nobody believed that these teenagers were actually the ones that were typing these Flyers and dispersing on their own these treasonous leaflets. And they eventually realized after they found a half written leaflet in helmet’s typewriter in his bedroom that this kid is actually behind this. And they did end up standing trial for treason in the highest court of the land called blood tribunal. These are all Hitler appointed judges, and they were all convicted of treason. And Helmuth decided he needed to take all the blame on himself to save his friends. And he stood up and said, and he was convicted of treason, and his sentence was to be executed. And he was at the age of 17, nearly 80 years ago now.

Yeah. Thank you, Russ. It’s interesting to look at that. And you talked about the Gestapo and as the writer and as I was working with my co Whitmer, Ethan Vincent, as we were doing research into this Gestapo agent, initially, Carl, as we sat down, he knew his last name. He referred to him by his last name, but that’s all we kind of knew. But as we were doing more research and writing the script and finding out that this man, as you alluded to earlier, Ross, this was a really complex individual who did horrible things during the day. He would torture people for information. But we know now that he had a wife and a family, and he was a loving and gentle husband and father. And to how do you reconcile that? As we were writing this script, it really became weaving these two stories together, this young resistance fighter and this hardened Nazi and Gestapo agent, who was also a loving husband and father, just kind of weaving these two stories together until they collide. And then it’s there when the interrogation starts, that this 16 year old kid has a huge impact on the rest of the life of this Gestapo agent.

So without giving away any spoilers, it’s an unbelievable story that really happened. Yeah.

And I think a part of that, too, Matt, is we look at these characters in our story because we have helmets, we have his two friends. We have the Gestapo agent. We also have other supporting cast characters, the leader of his Church, the mom, the wife to the Gestapo agent. What this is doing and what I really appreciate that you and I have done in the screenplay is you’ve looked at it on a micro level. This is a character drama. This isn’t like a big, sweeping World War II drama with giant planes and tanks. This is going into the home. This is looking at the daily lives of these characters and looking at choices. And that’s what I find so fascinating about this story is the choices that these characters are constantly making in the face of opposition. All of them are under some amount of pressure or some amount of expectation, and they all have to make a choice about what’s going to serve them, what’s going to serve others. And that’s just what’s so compelling is to watch the thought process of this kid of Helmet, who was young, was at the age of the Nazi youth, Hitler’s Boy Scouts, right.

Indoctrinated with the politics of the time and how someone like that, like Helmet could come out of that, could listen to these broadcasts out of England, in Germany, over the BBC radio and come to his own conclusion that he believed it. And then what choices he made because of that. It’s just a series of choices, just like a domino effect just throughout to watch how he as a character and all these other characters are affected by the truth that is slowly being revealed to them in their lives and what they do with it.

Yeah, I love that. And when people get to see this series, they will see that the way we have constructed this, the way we’ve written the scripts, virtually every character, major characters and minor characters has an opportunity to decide, are they going to stand up or not? What are they going to do? Many of them, not everybody did what Helmut did, but there were other ways to stand up for truth and to resist against the Nazis. But it is kind of an exploration to what did they do when they were faced with that choice?

Yeah. In hindsight, it feels like it’s just so obvious because these kinds of stories have been told over and over again. But it’s still so relevant today. There’s still so much that we can pull from stories like this and kind of learn from and ask ourselves similar questions.

Yeah. Like you said earlier, Russ, what would I have done and what do I do now? What will I do now? Those are some of the questions that hopefully this series will make all of us, all of us ask again, if you haven’t had a chance yet, go to angel. Comtruth. And if this is the type of series that you would like to see made, if you want to see this kind of a story told, then I would invite you to pledge your support. All of these wonderful people who are pledging their support and we really are grateful if I can just for a moment. You two know this, but we’ve been at this for a long time and it’s not an easy venture to tell a really powerful story and to make an independent film or an independent series for some reason. It costs a lot of money. I guess everybody wants to get paid, go figure. But it costs a lot of money to make movies. We’re in an art form that isn’t cheap. So very grateful for all of you who are helping to letting the crowd speak and say, yeah, let’s make this.

Let’s tell this story. They are asking the question there. Where is it going to be filmed, Ross? As you were saying earlier, we’re going to be filming it in Lithuania. In Vilnius. We’ve shot two other films there already. We have amazing partners, incredible locations. In some ways it looks more like Hamburg does now. Hamburg was leveled practically by the bombing raids in 1943 and has been rebuilt. But so much of it doesn’t look like it did before. That happened back in 41, 42. And these boys were resisting. So the filming in Vilnius, Lithuania and it’s just a beautiful place to be this time. We’ve shot two films there in the winter. Both times we’re really thinking it’d be nice to be there in the spring.

Yes, it’s beautiful there. I lived in the Baltics for almost two years. It’s an amazing place to be in the summer.

I don’t know if there are any other questions that we need to field or we can try to answer. If not, invite everybody one more time. We got one more question. Okay, no more questions. That’s what the voice in my ear is saying. No more questions. Again, I want to invite everybody if you can. We sure appreciate it if you’re able to share this. The angel dot comTRUTH to this with your friends and family. We know there are a lot of people and I’ve said this before, but how many times have you heard a story where you just think, man, somebody needs to make this movie? And that’s why we’re asking you to share it and we’re grateful for those of you who have tuned in again, another shout out to all of you Angel Studios fans. We can feel your presence. We’re really grateful to have you here as well.

Just because there are some people on here that are not familiar with the angel model. The angel model is still new to us as filmmakers. We’ve made movies and TV shows for networks that are provided financing traditional studio films, even traditional private equity and independent film. This is a new venture for us that we’re kind of exploring a crowdfunding way of financing this equity crowdfunding where that gives the people who express interest or later on down the road when there is a raise. People can actually put money into the project as investors, not just for a T shirt, but they’re going to be able to be the owner in the film, as it were. So anyway, this is still kind of a new model for us. And so right now, what this is doing, all these pledges coming in, it’s really just spreading the word and letting people know what we’re doing, what our intention is with this kind of story, and also inviting you all to come along with us as we make this story together.

Yeah. Thank you, John. And you can see on the screen there almost $90,000 in pledges today. That’s just astounding it gives me chills. We’re very grateful. Thank you, John and Russ, thank you for the many years working together and looking forward to finally getting this puppy made. And thank you to all of you viewers who have tuned in and all of you who have decided to pledge your interest in this. We’re very grateful. We will end this now and be back in a couple of weeks with our second live stream. And we’ll just wish you good night. And then we’ll have a chance to once again see Zalimon scene and watch the pitch video after that. So again to everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thanks, everybody.

Thanks, Matt. Hey, thanks, guys.

You’ve just seen the proof of concept trailer for Truth and Conviction, which will be the first dramatic series about teenage resistance fighters in Nazi Germany. It tells the true story of Helmuth Hubener, who, at 16 years old, was willing to sacrifice his life to stand up for truth and freedom. There will be more powerful scenes to follow, but I just wanted to take a moment and invite you to join us. If you think this story should be a series, show your support, click or visit angel. Comtruth and let us know. How did you first discover this story of Helmuth Hubener?

I heard about an old man who was the last surviving member of a teenage Nazi resistance group named Carl Hancheva. Heard that he lived less than an hour away from me. I just called him up on the phone, asked if he would be willing to share his story with me. He said Yeshua, come on up. So I went up to his house, sat down with him, and let him just share what his experience was as a 17 year old with his best friend, Helmuth Hubener, and another friend, Rudy, 15, 1617 years old, standing up against Whitmer. And they weren’t using guns or fists to do it. They were using a typewriter.

I was scared. I was actually scared because we read in the newspaper every day how severely these people get punished. The Nazis, they don’t want you to know the truth. The truth was deadly in Germany, but I was nosy enough to want to know more.

The story that Carl told me that day has changed the rest of my life. I walked out of his house that day just knowing, we have to make this into a movie. We have to tell this story.

We’ve had the opportunity to become really close friends with Carl over the years. He would share these experiences that he had. He would often get this distant look in his eyes. You could tell he was back in those moments. But to hear this 80 year old man saying, this is what we did, that brings a reality to it, that it’s just not just the story, but people live this. What came out of that was not only we have to tell this story, but feel entrusted to tell the story from Carl. The screenplay is incredibly powerful. Matt Whitaker and his writing partner, Ethan Vincent, have really captured this engaging character piece set within Nazi Germany. And it’s gained the attention of Hollywood producers, including Jerry Mullen, who was the Academy Award winner for Schindler’s List. He understands the power and the importance of telling stories from that era.

It’s really amazing to me to think this kid was 16, 125, 142. He was 16 years old. I had enough to realize that he wasn’t going to give in to something that he saw was wrong.

One of the most important parts of the story for me was Helmut’s friendship with Zalmun Shuat, who was Jewish. One day, Zalamun disappeared. Gestapo arrested him and Helmut, an Eversource friend again.

We went to Church, to our Church house, and there was a sign on the door which read, Juden, is that Sutra for Boudin? Jews not allowed to enter. And we had one Jewish member in our brand, Solomon Schwarz. And they didn’t let that young man in. He stood outside the door, and when we opened up, opening him, he was crying, but they didn’t let him in.

I wonder how I would feel if somebody took my best friend away. What would I do for Helmut? It was time to sit down and start typing up the truth. It wasn’t too long after Helmut started typing up these leaflets and putting them out that he realized he needed help. And so he went right to his two good friends, Carl Schneiver and Rudy VOBA, and asked him to help him.

Hermal said, let’s make a promise. He who gets caught first takes the blame. Don’t incriminate anybody. And that sounds good to me because I thought, I’m cool. I was the oldest. I said, they don’t catch me. So I said, all right. So we went that night home with about 15 Flyers. And Ham would type on it. Hitler the murderer. Hitler is the guilty one. I put him in telephone booth. I put him in mailboxes. The following Sunday in Church, he saw me coming, and he waved at me, and I David back. And he yelled to the Church, they haven’t arrested you yet, have they? And I said, Will you shut up? That was joking.

They were dispersing these treasonous leaflets throughout Hamburg, Germany. They put them in phone, boots, and mailboxes and sneak them in coat pockets at the opera, eluding the Gestapo for almost a year.

Eventually, they were caught. They went to trial. At a certain point, Helmet decided he had to stand up, and he had to take the attention and focus all on himself to save his two friends. And so that’s exactly what he did. He stood up. He did what was right, and he let the consequences follow. Helmut was executed for standing up for Truth. Carl and Rudy spent years in prison and in hard labor. An experience I’ll never forget was going with Carl back to Germany and visiting some of those places where he was held as a prisoner as a 17 year old, but also visiting the site where Helmet was executed. And being there with Carl was truly moving. There was a bus load of teenagers that pulled up with their high school teacher, and they got out, and they were looking visiting this site. And he just immediately gathered all of his students around Carl and said, tell us your story. To watch Carl tell them what he had done when he was their age was so powerful, they were getting it. That for me, was when a seed was really planted. I began to realize that this isn’t just a powerful story.

This is a story that changes people who hear it. Just another quick invite. If you want to see this story made into a series, click or visit angel. Comtruth to show your support. Don’t worry, you’re not buying or committing to anything. We just need to gauge how many of you want to be a part of bringing this story to the world.

We are partnering with Baltic Films and Film of Lithuania to shoot Truth and Conviction. We produced two films with them previously, and we’re excited to go back and work with a really great production partner. They previously produced HBO’s Chernobyl series, as well as HBO’s John Adams miniseries and the BBC’s War and Peace. Another partnership we’re very excited about is with Angel Studios. They’ve had such incredible success with The Chosen series, and we’re excited to bring this project to the global audience that they’ve been able to reach.

Our mission is to tell stories that amplify light. And when we saw the story of Truth and Conviction and what the creators behind that story, we realized that they were going to be able to tell a story that has the same principles that The Chosen and any other project that amplifies light. And it’s a story that needs to be told today. It’s a story that matters now.

Hamwood had big blue eyes. I mean, really big, dark blue eyes. And I never saw Hamwood emotionally. He never showed his Mormons when something happened. And when I put my arms on them, I told him what I see. Pretty soon his eyes filled with tears and he said to me, I hope you have a better life and a better Germany. And then he cried.

We talk about stories like Helmet’s story of someone sacrificing their life for someone else. I’ve always felt that there was like this across humanity. It’s like there’s this deep connection with those kinds of stories. For me, that’s what Helmet did. At some point he must have known he was going to be sacrificing his life to do that. But he did it anyway. That compels me to tell this story.

I personally am asking you to get this made to get it out there. Let the world understand what this young German kid did in 1942. Talk to your friends and tell them even though he died in 1942, his example of courage, of character, of commitment we’re talking about today. I love what he’s about. I want to be just like him.

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