L to R: Linc Hand, Actor; Patsy Riley, former First Lady of Alabama; Brant Beene, General Manager of The Historic Alabama/Lyric Theater, Mark Sims, Executive Producer of Sims Productions; Edie Hand, Exec Producer/Writer of Sims Productions/Hand ‘N Hand Entertainment; Norton Dill, Director of Photography/Dill Productions


 

Edie Hand Working on Projects for the Birmingham Historical Events Initiative

Sims Productions, LLC is now in production for the film “Pursuit of Justice” based on the book “Rising Road” by Sharon Davies. The story is about the most notorious criminal cases of its day. On August 11, 1921, in Birmingham, Alabama, a Methodist minister named Edwin Stephenson shot and killed a Catholic priest, James Coyle, in broad daylight and in front of numerous witnesses. The killer’s motive? The priest had married Stephenson’s eighteen-year-old daughter Ruth to Pedro Gussman, a Puerto Rican migrant and practicing Catholic. Sharon Davies’s Rising Road resurrects the murder of Father Coyle and the trial of his killer. 

While in production Edie and other members of the film project (and friends) posed for a photo at the historic Lyric Theater in Birmingham. AL

You can view some of the behind the scenes photos at BirminghamHistorical.com