A Brazilian Remake of “Flywheel” Reaching U.S. Theaters Shows Faith-Based Film Is Becoming a Two-Way Global Conversation

When the Kendrick Brothers made “Flywheel” in 2003, the film was famously small. It was created through a church, with limited resources, local actors and none of the infrastructure that would later surround faith-based theatrical releases.

More than two decades later, that same story has traveled to Brazil and is now returning to American theaters in a new form.

“Flywheel: Ignition of the Soul” reimagines the original story in Rio de Janeiro. The Portuguese-language film follows Noah Silva, a used-car salesman whose willingness to do whatever it takes for a deal begins to collapse his family life and integrity. The U.S. release is scheduled for Oct. 16 through AFFIRM Films.

The production exists because the Kendrick Brothers’ work found an audience in Brazil. Their 2024 film “The Forge” opened there at No. 1 and exceeded expectations, leading Brazilian filmmakers and ministry leaders to push for locally rooted faith-driven storytelling.

That origin changes the normal narrative of Christian media. American faith-based films have often been exported to international audiences. Here, the influence returned. Brazilian creators took a story born in Georgia, translated it through their own city and culture, and are now sending the reimagined version back to the United States.

This is what a mature global Christian culture should begin to look like. Not one country producing the stories while everybody else receives them, but creative ideas moving in multiple directions. Themes of integrity, greed, family and repentance are universal; the cultural expression does not have to be.

The remake also demonstrates the unlikely durability of small beginnings. The original “Flywheel” did not look like the start of an international film ecosystem. It looked like a church trying to make one movie. Yet it became part of a chain that eventually helped establish the Kendricks as major figures in faith-based cinema and inspired filmmakers on another continent.

That may be the most interesting thing about the Oct. 16 release. Faith-based entertainment is often measured by whether it can compete with Hollywood. “Ignition of the Soul” points toward a more ambitious question: can Christian storytellers build a genuinely global creative exchange in which Hollywood is not always the center?