Mill Creek Entertainment's I Can — Director Tyler Sansom's True-Life Story Of Katelyn Pavey — Makes Its DVD Debut On Dec. 12

First Capital Films, teaming up with Kappa Studios, makes faith-based films.  Each day of shooting on set or on location begins with a prayer.   

The cast, the crew, the extras are not Hollywood elites, but working actors and filmmakers, plus local people with good hearts who have stories to share about the power of faith.   Keep that in mind as you read on.

Mill Creek Entertainment announced this past week that director Tyler Sansom’s true-life tale, I Can, will be making its way to the DVD marketplace just in time for the Christmas gift-giving season.  The street date is Dec. 12.   

Mark that date down … especially if you have friends and family who enjoy movies that are well-told, with a heart, and have a powerful, uplifting story.

I Can is such a film.  You will have a tear in you eye at some point.   Not because the life of Katelyn Pavey is sad or terrible.   It is quite the opposite, despite being born with only one fully-formed arm — the other truncated at the elbow — she has accomplished seemingly impossible goals through faith and the spirit of “I Can.”

Sansom and his crew had the story, they also had the family — Katelyn’s family — and they had Katelyn.  The film was shot in a miraculous 18 days on a shoestring budget (the crowd scenes were all from the local community) and the excellent post work was all handled by Kappa Studios.   

I Can looks like a multi-million dollar production, which is OK … Hollywood makes very slick looking films, tens of millions of dollars are poured into just the CGI and often you come away with noise.   Where’s the story?

That’s not a problem here.  The production quality is excellent, but it is the story that drives it.  It will bring a smile to face, a tear to your eye and a desire to share I Can with as many people as, well, You Can!  

Katelyn, as mentioned, was born with a birth defect.   Her parents, played here by Jeff Armstrong (Unconditional, The 3, Discarding Santa) and Amanda Verkamp (her feature film debut), were both from broken marriages and when their daughter was born it pushed their relationship to the limit.   Through faith, both their marriage and Katelyn thrived, overcoming her “limiting” disability to achieve all of her goals.

At a young age she wanted to play softball.  A one-armed softball player?  No chance.   

More than that, she wanted to excel … and she did.   She became an all-star high school center fielder and won an NCAA scholarship for being among the best players in the entire country.   She would tell herself, “I Can,” and God would lead the way.

Oh by the way, her lifetime batting average is over .600!   

In the film, Danner Brown (in her film debut) plays Katelyn Pavey and we see efforts, her struggles and how her spirit gives her a chance to succeed.   Danner is the spitting image of Katelyn… they could be twins; sisters.   Which played huge dividends for a limited budget film … Katelyn does the “softball” stuff, while Danner Brown does the acting.

I Can made its debut last May at the International Christian Film Festival in Orlando, Florida and worked the Christian film festival circuit throughout the summer, piling up awards and word of mouth praises.   In September the film got a very limited 135-screen theatrical break and pulled in box office receipts of $233,000.  Take note “Hollywood,” that likely put the film in the black!!

For the record, the ARR for I Can works out to 81 days.

Now Mill Creek Entertainment, on Dec. 12, will be taking director Tyler Sansom’s I Can to its widest audience yet.   You will not be disappointed.