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The Pulpit - Prelude

LOGLINE: When a progressive, midwestern pastor's life is threatened by extremists, she must answer to a gang of interrogating FBI Agents as she reels from the trauma of terrorism.

"The Pulpit: Prelude" is about small town politics and the challenges faced by progressive leadership. And the film aims to shed light on this crisis of violence and prejudice in a variety of different faith communities in America.

This short film is a prelude to a feature-length Thriller of the same name. "THE PULPIT" will return.

Inspired by a True Story.

  • Tosin Morohunfola
    Director
    On Sight, Endowed
  • Tosin Morohunfola
    Writer
    On Sight, Endowed
  • Sam Findlay
    Producer
    Ride, The Bedroom, Middle School Maddox
  • Lydia Anderson
    Producer
    Trustfund, Matchbreaker, The Bedroom,
  • Kevin Willmott
    Producer
    BlacKkKlansman, The 24th, Da 5 Blood,
  • Emily Vere Nicoll
    Key Cast
    "Pastor Sarah"
    Stumptown, Black Mirror
  • Tosin Morohunfola
    Key Cast
    "Agent Thomas"
    Run The World, Blackbox, The 24th, The Chi
  • Christopher Commons
    Cinematographer
    Adira, Dispatch
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 14 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 17, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Tosin Morohunfola

Tosin is an actor and Kansas-transplant now based in LA most known from "Bass Reeves" (Paramount+) and his series regular work in “Run The World” (STARZ). You may also know him from “The Chi” (Showtime), “Black Lightning” (CW), “Chicago Med” (NBC), “Love Is” (OWN), “Julia” (HBO) and ABC’s “Everything’s Trash” (Freeform).

On film, he stars in Amazon’s "Blackbox", BET’s romantic comedy "Always A Bridesmaid", the erotic thriller, "Friend Request" and the bro-mantic comedy, "North of the 10". He was also in Oscar-winner Kevin Willmott’s “The 24th”, nominated for a NAACP Image award. Currently, he costars in the action-heist film, "1992" (Lionsgate) with Ray Liotta. Up next, he'll lead the heart-warming drama "Senior Moments" (Sony).

Tosin is also a filmmaker whose festival-selected shorts are: "The Pulpit: Prelude", a thriller about a progressive pastor under threat from extremists, which is also being developed as a feature, "Endowed", a parable about fear, faith and fatherhood, and "On Sight", a social justice police thriller. Currently, he's producing "Newly Famous", a dark comedy about the dangers of celebrity.

Tosin's writing and filmmaking centers on stories of empathy, awareness, belonging and seeing the human as hero in the face of institutional opposition.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I was raised in a pretty conservative Kansas community, and I’d like to reach back to those rural roots and extend this message of inclusion and support for the religious progressives and social activists who are often ostracized in the Bible Belt. I’d also hope that it warns my fellow Midwesterners about the lurking threat of right-wing extremism that is brewing in their midst.
Even while being a gripping thriller, the film truly speaks to the urgent social needs of the moment. And I can speak on that personally and directly. Just like how our pastor protagonist is gaslit by the disbelieving police officers she appeals to, in the past, I’ve run to the police for aid, and been denied it.
As an outspoken Black Lives Matter activist, the hatred aimed towards the pastor and her community intensifies even more. As a Black man who engages in these kinds of protests myself, I’ve experienced that same vitriol.
Through this fight for the marginalized, the film depicts and honors the struggle of progressive voices in rural areas and warns about the dangers which accompany that social activism.
Pastor Sarah’s story also demonstrates how the communities most resistant to change are often the ones who most need it. And that danger lurks behind those prejudices.
To that end, the real villain of this thriller is not a person. The villain is existential. The pastor’s enemies are not simply the terrorists, it is everyone distrusting her. The villain is an ideology itself. This revelation redefines the thriller genre. This big twist unites all of her seen and unseen harassers: a desire to limit, restrict and muzzle her service and her voice; a jurisdictional belief they have a right to control her. The villain is a pervasive, endemic ideology.
And stories like this are happening to community leaders all across this nation.