Asbury Feature Film Broadcasts Across the Middle East and Beyond

October 27, 2022

Damaged Goods, a feature film produced by the award-winning Asbury University Media, Journalism, and Digital Storytelling department that premiered in Lexington last fall at the Lyric Theatre, will be broadcast across the Middle East and beyond beginning this week.

On the ARABIC channel, the film was broadcast in October in 25 Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa and was subtitled in Arabic. In November, on the TURK channel, the film will be broadcast to Turkey and Turkish speakers across Europe and Central Asia, dubbed into Turkish. In December, on the PARS channel, the film will be broadcast to millions of Persian-speakers in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, subtitled in Farsi. The movie also is streaming on Amazon Prime.

The female-led movie is co-directed by Hollywood veteran Nancy Stafford (Matlock, Magnum P.I., Who’s the Boss?) and Asbury alumna Katie Oostman ‘15 and written by Doug Smart. It explores the difficult and culturally relevant topics of abuse, alcoholism, and family and relationship dysfunction, with Amanda, played by Hannah Alline, ultimately discovering that she can follow a new path of restoration.

“It is exciting to see the reach this small feature is having in areas that we find unimaginable,” said Dr. Jim Owens, dean of Asbury’s School of Communication Arts and department chair of the Media, Journalism, and Digital Storytelling department. “Our goal was to create a film that was real as well as providing hope for the future.”

Stafford said she was attracted to the project’s powerful, relevant story.

“It’s tough subject matter, but I’m especially excited that Damaged Goods is for audiences of every stage of faith,” she said. “It can be a bridge to people’s faith journey — to give an audience first steps — beginnings of restoration, forgiveness, healing and hope. And I believe it does that in an authentic and ultimately redemptive way.”

The Asbury University Media, Journalism, and Digital Storytelling department has alumni working all over the globe, from Los Angeles and Atlanta to Poland and China. Learn more about Asbury’s traditional undergraduate, online, and graduate programs in Media, Journalism, and Digital Storytelling: https://www.asbury.edu/academics/departments/media-journalism/.