Facing Darkness Documentary In Theaters For One-Night Event

FACING DARKNESS documentary in theaters soon! The film is a new documentary that tells the story of how Samaritan’s Purse raced against time to rescue two of their own team stricken with the deadly Ebola virus. The one-night cinema event, which will be held on Thursday, March 30 at 7 p.m. also includes exclusive behind-the-scenes details from Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham and Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly about the dramatic life-and-death struggle as the epidemic raged in Liberia.

In the light of the recent Academy Awards, Facing Darkness seems to have the same quality as the acclaimed “White Helmets” documentary. However, Facing Darkness is about another battle-front: disease. Though it may seem more light, disease should be not taken lightly – Ebola had an enormous number of casualties, as I’ll discuss.

 As the Ebola pandemic swept across West Africa in the spring of 2014, Samaritan’s Purse stepped up to provide comfort, compassion and care to the hurting people of Liberia . . . all in the Name of Jesus. When the deadly virus infected two of the organization’s team members—Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol—the crisis truly hit home for Samaritan’s Purse and its leader Franklin Graham. FACING DARKNESS tells the incredible true story of how—with faith, skill, determination and prayer—the organization worked around-the-clock to bring Brantly and Writebol home, all the while praying for a miracle.

FACING DARKNESS premiered at the Heartland Film Festival and earned special mention in the Award of Excellence category for the Accolade Global Film Competition.

A scene from Facing Darkness, courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse.

Samaritan’s Purse had been working in Liberia for a decade when the deadly Ebola epidemic swept through the country in 2014. Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham was determined that the organization should do all it could to help those who were suffering. At first, the world largely ignored the killer plague, but the Samaritan’s Purse team fought to control it. Then Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol contracted the disease. FACING DARKNESS filmmakers show the personal cost of service, the race against time to get the Americans home, and the intense effort to save their lives.

How do you halt a killer virus across poverty-stricken Liberia? FACING DARKNESS is the incredible true story of how the world awoke to the epidemic after Samaritan’s Purse brought two Ebola-infected medical missionaries to the U.S. The organization’s massive public awareness campaign also helped 1.5 million Liberians avoid the disease. By May 2015, one year after the outbreak, Liberia was Ebola-free.

The numbers stagger the mind. Tens of thousands infected with Ebola and more than 11,000 dead in West Africa. March 2014 marks the beginning of the outbreak, and it was just in June last year the World Health Organization officially declared it over. But the end of an outbreak is not the end of the disease. Talk to Samaritan’s Purse officials about working in a post-Ebola outbreak world.

From Samaritan’s Purse, Fathom Events and Executive Producer Franklin Graham, directed by Arthur Rasco, comes FACING DARKNESS.