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, now in postproduction, is directed by Kirk Wahamaki and Leslye Witt. It premieres in the Netherlands and America in spring 2025 honoring the 80th anniversary of European Liberation.
You can see the film’s trailer here.
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. They also 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 will screen at theaters, museums, festivals, universities, performing arts centers, libraries and conference across the United States, in many Dutch cities, Belgium and Canada. See below for a complete schedule of events which will be updated in the coming months.
The Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944-45, is central to this screenplay which has won eight best feature film awards at festivals in America and abroad. This movie is the Michigan production team’s fourth release, building on the successes of Waterwalk, Pilot Error and Coming Up For Air which have won a dozen best feature awards at international festivals. The Old Heart script has won seven best feature film screenplay festival honors.
For details on supporting the production please contact Producer Roger Rapoport rogerdrapoport@me.com, call (231) 720-0930 or visit https://heartland-iff.org/how-to-donate
Old Heart 2025 Premiere Dates
April 5 /Theater de Schalm, Veldhoven, Netherlands
May 17 /Redford Theater, Detroit
May 18 /Muskegon, Michigan, The Corner
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 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, was staged at Detroit’s Redford Theater in May 2022 where it was directed by Karl King. Kirk Wahamaki and LeslyeWitt directed the play at Muskegon Community College’s Overbrook Theater in May 2023. 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.”
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.