By Clinton Martin
The story of Sight & Sound starts over 45 years ago on a dairy farm in Lancaster County. Farmer Glenn Eshelman stepped outside his rural roots and followed an artistic journey, focusing on how God’s creation could be captured on film, with brush stroke, and eventually, in “sight” and “sound” format with a soundtrack and a slide projector. Traveling around to area churches, granges, social halls, etc. he, along with his wife Shirley, performed many of these stories.
Eventually, the couple established a brick-and-mortar theater in Lancaster County, producing Bible-themed shows with live actors, and other media, such as lighted water effects (“Living Waters Theater.”) Today, the still-family-owned theater company operates two large (2,000 seat) theaters, one in Lancaster County, the other in Branson MO.
In 2020, when “two weeks to flatten the curve” turned into many months of forced business closure, the stage was dark, the actors out of work, the approximately 675 employees of Sight & Sound unable to do their normal work, the current generation of ownership (Glenn and Shirley passed the baton in 2011) decided that the time was right to attempt something that had always sort of swirled around in the company’s imagination…. “Let’s make a movie!”
The company produced “I Heard the Bells.” It released for the Christmas season in 2022 but had started production during those heady “shutdown” days. It kept the staff engaged. The actors worked on camera rather than on stage, but the company was able to keep their people, at least most of them, employed.
Movies hardly ever make any money. Sure, there are those occasional summer blockbusters that make hundreds of millions of dollars, but the movie industry is notoriously a money pit, where even really good movies can lose big bucks for their producers. “I Heard the Bells” was not expected to be profitable. The management of Sight & Sound were preparing for it to lose money and were hoping for a modest break-even at best.
Well, the film did more or less break even. Based on some estimates, it may even have turned a small profit. Additionally, the reviews for the film, from the considerable number of patrons that had gone to see it in theaters, were immensely positive. People loved the film.
Turns out, Sight & Sound loved making it. So, they set their sights on making another one. That brings us to “A Great Awakening.” This is the second film for Sight & Sound, and it is due to be released in theaters around Easter of 2026.
The film centers around George Whitefield, Methodist minister, and Benjamin Franklin. The two men were friends and observed the great expansion and renewed vigor of Christianity in England and the Colonies from different, yet complementary, viewpoints. The “Great Awakening” is often described as an early evangelical movement, around 1730 to 1750.
In announcing the film, director (and Sight & Sound executive) Joshua Enck was quoted with “Our mission is to bring powerful stories of redemption to life on stage and screen, and this film highlights a profound event in our nation’s history that unified a generation with the belief that faith and liberty are undoubtedly intertwined.”