Golden Ray documentary entry at Atlanta Film Festival

Mar. 4—A documentary film about the cargo ship Golden Ray capsizing in St. Simons Sound has been selected as one of the entries in the Atlanta Film Festival next month.

The 90-minute documentary, "Ship Happens," premiered in October to rave reviews by an audience at the Ritz Theatre.

Jordan Bellamy, the movie's co-director, said it's the first attempt to enter the documentary in a film festival.

"It's huge," he said. "I hope the people in the film and people from St. Simons Island and Brunswick are coming out."

Of the more than 9,000 entries for the festival, 190 were selected in a wide range of categories.

The names of all the selected movies have not been released for the festival, which runs April 10-20.

"Ship Happens" is one of five entries featured in an advertisement for the film festival, much to Bellamy's surprise and delight.

"It's an honor to be featured," Bellamy said. "The first round of promotions in the festival is huge."

Local businessman Steven Prince, the movie's producer, realized the capsized ship and the more than 4,200 vehicles on board needed to be documented because of the impact the Golden Ray had on the community. Prince said he had no idea it would take two years for the ship to be removed from the sound when he met with a film crew in Nashville, Tenn., shortly after the accident in September 2019.

Prince said the goal when he hired a film crew to chronicle the shipwreck was to create a documentary his great grandchildren could watch to see an important moment in local history. Another goal was to make a documentary that could be marketed to the larger community.

Prince said he was pleased with the documentary but said he could be prejudiced because he was so closely involved with the production. He said he did not expect the movie to play a role in promoting a major film festival.

"To have been chosen as part of the advertising campaign is unexpected," he said. "Atlanta is a huge market. I never saw this coming."

Filming the documentary was a challenge once the salvage operation began because of strong tides, unpredictable weather, fires, and mechanical breakdowns of equipment used to remove the ship and its contents section by section.

After the premier in October, Bellamy said the movie continued to be edited until days before it was entered in the Atlanta festival. The tweaks and minor edits were intended to polish the final product, which Bellamy said is about five minutes shorter than the version shown at the Ritz Theatre during the premier.

"I got kinda obsessed at the end," he said.

While the local audience gave the movie positive reviews, Bellamy said he'll be interested to see the reaction by a general audience with little knowledge about the Golden Ray. But the fact the film festival is featuring "Ship Happens" in its early promotions is encouraging, he said.

"They are featuring us, so it feels good," Bellamy said. "It's nice to get that support and recognition."

Prince said there are plans to make the movie shown in the Golden Isles but no dates have been set.

"Lots of people want to see it," he said. "I look forward to when it can be shown in Brunswick and St. Simons Island."

The Golden Ray story offered a unique opportunity to capture a rare event on film, Bellamy said.

"It was once in a lifetime footage," he said. "Hopefully, we'll never see it again."