Words of Atonement

Italy, Winter 1944 - A small American convoy makes its way through an old village. Warner, an Allied medic is writing to his girl back home. As the company drives through the town, a small group of Germans prepares to ambush them...

(HD Video, Short) April 2011

Words of Atonement

CREDITS:

Written, Directed, and Edited

By: Phillip Carroll

Produced By:
Kurt Eberling Jr.

Directors of Photography:
Brett Graybill and Michael Thackray

Cast

G.I. Medic - Steven Costa
Sergeant - Gary Oswald
Jeep Driver - Mike Kettyle
Feldwebel Hochmeyer - Gerhard Laemmele
Erich - Friedrich Haas

G.I.s:
Bill McGee, Kevin Malseed, Rob Croce,

Jim Carden, Matt Strelecki,

and Matthew Thackray

Germans:
Nick Nebal, Douglas Baker,

Richard Roberts, Jim Speece,

Kris Ortega, Andrew Klinger

Italian Farmer:
Anthony Fratto

Italian Children:
Michael and Justin Costa

Crew

Script Supervisor - Hosu Lee
Props Master - Kurt Eberling Jr.
Boom Mic - Alexander Szokolyai
SteadiCam Operator - Michael Thackray
Casting Director - Kurt Eberling Jr.

Original Story by Kurt Eberling Jr.
Screenplay by Phillip G. Carroll Jr.

Behind the Scenes Recordings:
Matthew Thackray
Douglas Baker (Sum12see)

Production Assistants:
Phil Carroll Sr.
Colleen Carroll
John Carroll
Alexander Steed
Kevin Smith

On Set Photography:
John Carroll and Kurt Eberling Jr.

Shot on location at Tamanend Park,
located in Southampton, P.A.

Production Photos

Click here to go to gallery.

Fun Facts:

Words of Atonement was shot in one day, on March 13th, 2011.

The movie was made for Phil’s Temple Media Arts II Midterm Project as a last resort. Originally, Phil had planned a very personal film that took place across space and time. In a preproduction meeting the week before the shoot, Phil and the team decided that his movie could not be shot in the two days Phil had allotted for the shoot. Phil went back to the drawing board and decided to utilize the World War II re-enactors that were scheduled to be in his original project. Over the next week, Phil wrote a screenplay inspired by true events that Kurt Eberling Jr. had told Phil about. Together the two of them ironed out a story.

The original script had some extra scenes with the Germans looting the convoy, and radioing in to headquarters to decide what to do with the Americans. Headquarters then told Feldwebel to execute them, but due to it being Christmas, he disobeyed his orders.

The budget of the film was $0. The only thing that cost money was food for the cast and crew, which was graciously donated by Phil’s loving parents.

Most of the cast and crew did not know the ending of the film until the time came to shoot it.

To read the original shooting script, click here.

Awards & Screenings