EXCLUSIVE: Angel Studios will release Brave The Dark in theaters on January 24, 2025 on a minimum of 1,000 screens.
Based on a true story, the film by Damian Harris portrays the transformation of a 1980s small-town drama teacher Stan Deen — played by BAFTA winner and Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Jared Harris — drawn into the mysterious past of a student, Nathan (Nicholas Hamilton), who is arrested outside his classroom.
Long sustained by a quiet belief that no student is a lost cause, Deen attempts to bond with Nathan, secretive and living alone in his car. Their relationship will test his deepest convictions and become a life-changing journey.
Co-writer and subject of the film, Nathaniel Deen, said the work “isn’t just my story, it’s a tribute to my hero, Stan Deen. We are honored to link arms with Angel Studios, so Brave the Dark and Stan’s legacy can shine brightly on the world stage.” (Nathaniel Dean eventually took Stan Deen’s last name.)
Also stars Jamie Harris, Sasha Bhasin, Will Edward Price and Kimberly Fairbanks. Written by Dale G. Bradley, Lynn Robertson-Hay, Nathaniel Deen, John P. Spencer, Damian Harris.
Presented by Aristos Films and MAKE/FILMS in association with Triode Media. Produced by Grant Bradley, Derek Dienner, Dale G. Bradley.
Angel Studios, which calls itself “a values-based distribution company for stories that amplify light to mainstream audiences,” surged onto the scene with 2023’s Sound Of Freedom, which grossed $250 million in worldwide theatrical box office.
It has an unusual model where members of its Angel Guild, which it says number over 100,000 in 155 countries, have invested nearly $80 million in projects distributed to date.