Christian Retailing

South Africa's 'folksy Billy Graham' biopic coming Print Email
Written by Eric Tiansay   
Monday, 06 April 2009 12:16 PM America/New_York
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The dramatization of an unlikely South African evangelist's remarkable ministry, which became a hit general release movie in his homeland, arrives on DVD next month.

Available tomorrow, April 7, Faith Like Potatoes tells the story of farmer Angus Buchan--described by South African media as "a folksy version of Billy Graham"--who overcame major losses to see a physical and spiritual harvest, spreading a message of racial reconciliation and hope in Christ.

Rated PG, the 113-minute drama is based on the similarly titled book published by Monarch Books. Released in theaters in South Africa in 2006, the film became one of the top five grossing domestic movies of all time there and won several film festival awards.

On becoming Christians, Buchan and his wife founded a ministry to care for widows and orphans and also manage a primary school with almost 200 students. The Buchans named their farm Shalom, and he now speaks to crowds of tens of thousands at evangelistic meetings.

To help North American viewers comprehend the sometimes-strong South African accents, the DVD includes subtitles. In addition, it features a 54-minute documentary on the real-life Buchan, God's Farmer, due to be aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Although the film is not being released to theaters in the U.S., it is being made available to churches for licensed screenings. The Sony Pictures Home Entertainment release is distributed by Provident-Integrity Distribution.