OLD HEART A new movie adapted from Peter Ferry’s acclaimed novel — Coming Spring 2025
The movie
Set for release in May 2025 during the 80th anniversary celebration of European Liberation Day, Old Heart has wrapped filming in Michigan and the Netherlands. The film, directed by Kirk Wahamaki and Leslye Witt, premieres in the Netherlands and America in spring 2025 honoring the 80th anniversary of European Liberation.
Adapted from Peter Ferry’s award winning novel, Old Heart tells the story of Tom Johnson, an American soldier who is part of the Allied liberation of the Southern Netherlands in the fall of 1944. He works with a Jewish translator, Sarah van Praag, to smuggle food and supplies to starving residents of northern cities trapped behind Nazi lines. And they fall in love.
Sixty years later, in the summer of 2005, Tom foils his family’s plan to move him to an assisted living facility by taking a flight to the Netherlands. He is determined to find Sarah again, the love of his life.
Old Heart, now in postproduction, will screen at theaters, museums, festivals, universities, performing arts centers, libraries and conference across the United States, in many Dutch cities and Belgium and Canada. See below for a complete schedule of events.
The Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944-45, is central to this screenplay which has won eight best feature film awards at festials in America and abroad. This movie is the Michigan production team’s fourth release, building on the successes of award winning films Waterwalk, Pilot Error and Coming Up For Air.
For details on supporting the production and release of this film and enquires about booking the film for an event or showing, please contact Producer Roger Rapoport rogerdrapoport@me.com or call (231) 720-0930
Old Heart Premiere Dates
April 1 Breda University, Netherlands
April 5 Theater de Schalm, Veldhoven, Netherlands
May 18 Muskegon, Michigan
June 26 The Association for the Advancement of Dutch American Studies bi-annual national conference, Hope College, Holland Michigan
Many more dates will be added soon.
Old Heart Cast
Ed Gaines
Diane Van Wesep
Eva Doueri
Jamelle Sargent
Kurt Schoeder
Zaneta Adams
Shannon Huneryager
Martha Callenbach
Roosevelt Johnson
Shelley Irwin
Robin Erdman
Jeffrey Holmes
Joe Carmolli
Dakiya Covington
T.J. Williams
Sophia Kelly Anderson
Mark Lewis
Chiquetta Bunts Wood
Darreco Scott
Trina Sandifer
Robert Cicchini
Production Team
Directors: Kirk Wahamaki and Leslye Witt
Producer/Screenwriter: Roger Rapoport
Director of Photography: David Darling
Cinematographer: Tyler Joslin
Editors: Gene Gamache, Alex Bernhardt, Tyler Joslin
Costumer: Susan Eyler
Composer: Garth Neustader
Sound Recordists: Pete Bosheff, Ashley Ruiter
Camera Assistant/EPK: Austin Muratori
Production Assistant: Falon McCormick
The story
Old Heart tells the story of African American GI Tom Johnson who joins forces with 24-year-old Sarah van Praag and the Dutch resistance to smuggle food and supplies from the liberated south across Nazi lines to starving cities in the northern Netherlands. Their brief love affair collapses at the war’s end, and sixty years later Johnson, about to be sent off to assisted living by his family, disappears on a flight to Amsterdam. While his children desperately try to locate him, Johnson is determined to track down Sarah. See the trailer here.
Old Heart novelist Peter Ferry
Hear Peter Ferry’s Interview on Old Heart with WGN’s Rick Kogan.
Peter Ferry’s award-winning novel Old Heart (Unbridled Books, 978-1-60953-117-1), has garnered a steadily widening readership since its first appearance in 2015. Dave Eggers called the book “astonishing.” The Chicago Tribune says the novel “will stay with you for keeps.” And Publishers Weekly asserts the novel is “life-affirming.”
Peter Ferry died in Indianapolis in September 2024 just days after Old Heart production began close to his beloved family home in South Haven, Michigan. Here is a tribute to Peter from the Chicago Tribune’s Rick Kogan.
The Play
“Thoroughly enjoyed the play, Melanie Lamrock ws outstanding.”
—Peter Bhatia, Editor-in-chief, Detroit Free Press.
Old Heart, directed by Kirk Wahamaki and Lesley Witt is on stage at Muskegon Community College’s Overbrook Theater May 20 (7 p.m.) and May 21, 2023 (2 p.m.) The play premiered at Detroit’s Redford Theater last May and will be presented by the Vero Beach Florida Theater Guild in February 2024. Adapted from Peter Ferry’s award-winning novel, Old Heart is an inspiring mixed race love story that illuminates the courage of two young people fighting to save lives in a divided country at the war’s end.”
The Novel
Peter Ferry’s award-winning novel Old Heart (Unbridled Books, 978-1-60953-117-1), has garnered a steadily widening readership since its first appearance in 2015. Dave Eggers called the book “astonishing.” The Chicago Tribune says the novel “will stay with you for keeps.” And Publishers Weekly asserts the novel is “life-affirming.”