A Feature-length Film by Michael Helms
Carolina Backcountry · 1780 · The Southern Campaign
When a seasoned Patriot captain takes a Loyalist prisoner he cannot bring himself to execute, he sets in motion a chain of loss that costs him his men one by one — testing whether the humanity he fights to preserve is worth the price his company pays for it.
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The Story
Let It End Here is set in the Carolina backcountry in 1780, at the height of the American Revolution's southern campaign. Captain Emory Hale leads a small, seasoned company of Patriot irregulars — farmers, frontiersmen, and fighters who have been together long enough to know each other's measure — on a reconnaissance mission deep into Loyalist territory.
When Emory takes a Loyalist prisoner rather than executing him on the spot, a decision he cannot fully account for even to himself, he introduces a tension into the company that begins to pull it apart from the inside. As the mission carries them through ambush, loss, and the slow erosion of trust, Emory finds himself fighting two wars simultaneously — one against the Crown's forces, and one against the fracturing loyalty of his own men.
It is a film about what men carry and what carries them. About the difference between a cause and the conduct it requires. About a woman who picks up her dead husband's rifle and keeps walking. About a prisoner who tells the truth at the cost of his life.
The American Revolution story has rarely been told from the perspective of the men who fought it without uniforms, in the Carolina backcountry — where the war was actually won.
Updates on casting, production, and release — sent when there's something worth saying.
No noise. Just the film.
Meet the Filmmakers
Michael Helms
Writer / Producer / Director / Editor
Michael earned his BFA in Filmmaking from UNC School of the Arts. He has produced, written, directed, and edited many short films, and has crewed in numerous positions on several feature and short films.
He has a deep passion for history, and for historical films that challenge the viewer to look deeper than themselves and their own worldviews. He works as a professional videographer, specializing in weddings, commercial videos, narrative filmmaking, and more.
S'alfrico Watson-Grant
Producer / Director of Photography
S'alfrico is a Director of Photography with a history of working in the Motion Picture and Film Industry. He has a passion for visual storytelling, and is skilled in Cinematography for feature and short films, TV commercials, and documentaries.
S'alfrico earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the UNCSA — School of Filmmaking, with a concentration in Cinematography.
This isn't a random idea for a film. It was seeded by years of immersion in the local historical scene, countless hours amongst Revolutionary War re-enactors, and in-depth study of one of the most crucial and least-taught periods in America's history. The Southern Campaign is our civil war before Our Civil War.
The feature will be produced independently, on the actual terrain of the war's most consequential engagements, with access to period-accurate weapons, costuming, and an established network of SAR/DAR-affiliated re-enactors across the Carolinas — the same resources that made the proof-of-concept possible at a fraction of the typical budget.
