“Reverence,” an upcoming thriller from writer-director Kyle Kauwika Harris (“Out of Exile”), has started production in Oklahoma.
The film began principal photography this week, with a logline reading: “‘Reverence’ is a dark and moody missing person’s thriller about a traumatized father coming to terms with his violent military past, while searching for his missing daughter in a small, rural town. As police investigate, the circumstances around the case spiral out of control.”
“Reverence” stars Adam Hampton (“Out of Exile”), Whit Kunschick (“Country Gold”), Gattlin Griffith (“The Boys”), Connie Franklin (“Agent Jade Black”) and Ryan Francis (“Hook”). Jacob Ryan Snovel produces for SafeHouse Films with Kenny Pitts, Gared Reinke and Nicholas Clement. (Clement is a PvNew contributor.) Jeremy Charles produces under Pursuit Films; Vahid Farzaneh and Kelley Gann produce under Freestyle Creative.
Harris, who is of Hawaiian descent and is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation, is known for his 2017 Emmy-award winning documentary “I Stand: The Guardians of the Water.” The film spotlighted the Standing Rock Sioux Nation’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. He most recently made his theatrical debut with crime thriller “Out of Exile” this summer. Like “Out of Exile,” “Reverence” once again focuses on a father’s conflict.
“I wanted to write a missing person’s mystery where nothing is as it seems, and infuse it with a great deal of ambiguity, filled with twists, turns, and reveals to keep the audience leaning forward as we peel back the many layers of these characters and story,” said Harris. “I’m drawn to grounded stories and narratives that are cryptic, and which pose questions after the film ends, which makes you reflect upon what you’ve watched. Paul Schrader said that, if the ending is good, that’s where the movie really begins.”
