About theFilm

It started with a notion, a vision, a dream. I was twenty-something, beginning to make real a dream to become a media-maker, a filmmaker, an illuminator-artist.  At core, to tell stories that expanded one’s sense of possibilities and touched the heart. Stories that inspired courage to be and to do in the way biographies of my youth stirred vast dreams within me.

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A notion, a vision, a dream first came after discovering the wisdom of Howard Thurman on the pages of his book, Meditations of the Heart, and his personal story in With Head and Heart, his autobiography.  When I heard Howard Thurman preach and later shook his hand in the basement of Fellowship Church in San Francisco the dream grew into a resolve to complete a film on him. The resolve progressed to action in 1994 after I survived a near-fatal head-on car crash In Boston. Since then I've been on a mission and driven by a belief that  Thurman's words and story are forever timely for our lives and our world. 

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THE PSALM OF HOWARD THURMAN provides a unique view of the journey of the soul of a spiritual leader and a nation.  Set against the historical backdrop of a racially and culturally divisive nation, Howard Thurman’s story and words give witness to one who encouraged wholeness and affirmed that our lives mattered–despite the world’s decree or our circumstances. ​

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THE PSALM OF HOWARD THURMAN aspires to be a sacred song– a lyrical work of beauty and truth, a creative utterance that touches, inspires, and illuminates. It skillfully combines on-camera remembrances of family, friends, and colleagues, evocative nature scenes, and rare archival images. An original music score propels the film’s powerful narrative. Interwoven is audio of Howard Thurman himself and the reflections of Thurman voiced by award-winning actor, Sterling K. Brown. My voice as filmmaker-narrator ponders the significance of Thurman’s life and words in my journey and for us all.

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I marvel at how a notion, a vision, a dream have persisted and evolved. And with the film close to completion, they will be realized at last. 

 

–ARLEIGH PRELOW