GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Local film crews ended 2023 on a high note, as they wrapped up a week's worth of shoots in West Michigan. “A Soldier for Christmas” is a faith-based holiday movie written and directed by Aaron Greer. The story focuses on Hannah Jacobs, played by local actor Renay Rayes.
“She's an Army widow and a single mom,” Rayes said. “She ends up meeting her next love interest, which is Sgt. Ryan Barnes.”
“The soldier is currently not in war,” said New York-based actor Joseph Barra, who plays Barnes. “He's been enlisted for over 10 years, and by chance, he happens to meet a widowed wife of a soldier through a fellow soldier. And even though they both aren't looking for love, can’t fight what the heart wants.”
“My role is to kind of encourage her to not give up on that potential for a great love,” said Mercedes Marcial, who plays Melissa Phillips. “She's so young. She has a little one and has a lot to look forward to. So the story kind of follows Hannah's journey on getting to know a new love in her life around Christmas time, and my job is to give the thumbs up.”
Greer, whose previous projects involve the streaming series The Watchers, said the themes of the movie are hope and joy. Rayes, Barra and Marcial were all featured in The Watchers. Greer said having those established relationships helped him craft this new story, and he wrote certain parts with those actors in mind. Then, shortly before Christmas 2023, the cameras started rolling.
“We were very ambitious with our schedule. We shot a 90-page feature film in seven days,” Greer said. “To keep our budget low, we had a small cast and a small crew. Even though it was a small team, it was a very talented, experienced team. So I knew they could handle the pressures of doing it this way.”
Many parts of West Michigan were used for filming, including the space in downtown Grand Rapids that formerly housed Compass College of Film and Media. Greer said it was made over to look like an Army barracks for some of the interior scenes.
“Then we shot on the dunes at Holland State Park to kind of create our exterior desert scenes in the Middle Eastern setting for the soldiers,” he said.
Other filming locations included Grand Rapids City Gym, downtown Grandville and downtown Holland.
“Then for our finale with Cameron Arnett, we shot in Unison Church, which is over off Kalamazoo Avenue in Grand Rapids,” Greer said.
Arnett is an Atlanta-based actor with a huge body of work, most of which is faith-based content. He was only in Grand Rapids for a short period of time but said he enjoyed working with the cast and crew of “A Soldier for Christmas.”
“One of the great things of being on this kind of set is the camaraderie and the oneness and everybody really being after the vision and having it happen, as opposed to the tension of filmmaking in Hollywood,” Arnett said. “It's a breath of fresh air.”
Greer also tends to gravitate toward faith-based content, although he said that’s not necessarily the goal.
“It comes out in my writing. I definitely try to write characters of faith into the story, but I think it comes from just making them genuine, making them relatable,” he said. “But in terms of ‘do I actually try to write faith and family programming?’ I don't necessarily start out with that in mind. I very much love my genres of filmmaking, whether it's action, action adventure. This was a nice challenge to try to write a Christmas film.”
He said he enjoys being part of a new wave of filmmakers who happen to be people of faith, but they intentionally try not to force any certain agenda or system of beliefs on the audience.
“We're trying to push the boundary of what is considered a faith-based story,” Greer said. “How do we present characters of faith in our films? There have been some great movies in the last year or two that I feel like are really starting to push the boundary of especially the genre of filmmaking where it's not just, you know, it's not just a drama. It's not just a Christmas film. It's got something more to it. So I kind of tried to lean into that bend a little bit more.”
“People may not be drawn because of the Christian perspective, but it's what everybody needs,” Arnett said. “The truth of the matter is the principles themselves are universal.”
“When you meet fellow, not just people in the film industry, but people that are so faith-based, that are so strong with the spirit, that follow Christ like you do, it's like you're doing what God put you on this earth to do, and he's bringing the right people together,” Barra said.
“This has been such a blessing, truly,” Rayes said. “I've always been really strong in my faith, and it's cool to combine my passion with my faith. I feel like we always end up creating something beautiful when that happens.”
Greer said editing the film should be relatively easy, because the performances by the actors were so good, they didn’t have to do many takes. He’s hoping to have the film ready for a mid-year release. If nothing else, Greer said everyone will be able to see “A Solider for Christmas” by the end of 2024.
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