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-Jessica Smith, the Flagpole
“Through music, the filmmaker explores the connections we forge while delving into the often harsh reality of following your dreams. Set at the intersection between what you love and what it costs you, this film twists on itself in the best way, keeping you glued to the screen until the final moments.”
RAGGED HEART was fueled by the restless spirit of American New Wave films like Five Easy Pieces, Nashville, and Tender Mercies and shares common ground with more recent films like Chrystal, PIG and Nomadland. As in those films, we want audiences to feel like they’ve lived among our fascinating, if flawed characters and experienced their rough and tumble worlds firsthand.
A songwriter’s last work may hold the key to her father’s redemption.
WYATT was once a vaunted musician in Athens’ legendary music scene but reckless choices have left him an outcast, drifting through the rural outskirts as a salvage collector.
When his estranged daughter MIRANDA tragically dies, Wyatt sets out to complete the last song she wrote, hoping to somehow redeem himself and let her rest in peace.
His mission takes him back into the industry that spit him out years ago
and face to face with his demons, old and new.
The actors are undoubtedly the “lightning in a bottle” aspect of this film.
From seasoned (and exceptionally talented) pros like Josh Mikel (Walking Dead / Righteous Gemstones / Respect / Rectify) to first timers, each actor brought authenticity and vibrance to the story. Eddie Craddock, playing Wyatt, is such a confident, instinctive and grounded actor, it’s nearly impossible to believe this is his first leading role in a feature film.
In our humble opinion, Eddie delivers one of the most compelling, nuanced freshman performances in recent memory and we’re incredibly fortunate to have “discovered” such a talent.
Now that he’s landed both an agent and upcoming role on a popular Netflix series based on the strength of his work in Ragged Heart, we’re equally excited to watch where he goes from here!
We were also fortunate to have many Athens-based musicians, artists, local personalities, and "average folk” appear in the film, lending their talents and an unmistakable realness to the story. These include legendary musicians Jim White, Patterson Hood (Drive-by Truckers) Sienna Chandler (Monsoon), Willow Avalon, Linqua Franqa, LeeAnn Peppers and Donna Hopkins. Visual artists include painter/Athens royalty Vernon Thornsberry and folk art legend Chris Hubbard (CHUB) who both play substantial roles in the film.
We began with a full-length script but wanted the story to blend with the energy of its environment and continue to evolve as we filmed. We jumpstarted this process by filming mini-documentaries of various locals in town, developing a comfort level with them and reacquainting ourselves with the area. From here, we invited a number of these locals to play fictional versions of themselves and threaded the primary actors and storyline through their worlds.
We encouraged the “real people” to stray from the script and act as they would in their daily life. Based on their actions and dialogue, we revised subsequent scenes to match what transpired. This brought an organic quality to the scenes and also challenged the trained actors to think on their feet as the scenes unfolded (which they’ve handled incredibly well).
Hi! We're Debrah and Evan McNary - sibling filmmakers from Atlanta, GA.
We grew up in a religious cult not far from where RAGGED HEART was filmed. And although secular media was forbidden, we sharpened our storytelling chops by orchestrating church plays and helping our minister father fine-tune his sermons.
Since those salad days, we’ve created a number of short films and commercial productions together. It was a thrill to build on those experiences in making our first feature, drawing on familiarity with the area and personal relationships with the local cast and crew.
Rounding out the family affair, our musician brother Tim McNary served as music supervisor and our dad Mike (who’s loosened up on his “movies are Satan” stance) runs our social media accounts.
