by FilmInk Staff
New feature based on Lynda MacGibbon’s award-winning memoir about faith, friendship and finding community among strangers
Following the international festival success of The Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church, Australian financing and distribution company Eternal Entertainment is developing its next feature film, My Vertical Neighbourhood.
Written and directed by Dean Owen-Sims, My Vertical Neighbourhood is based on Canadian author Lynda MacGibbon’s memoir My Vertical Neighborhood: How Strangers Became a Community. The screenplay is currently in development, with Sydney planned as the film’s production base.
MacGibbon’s book tells the story of what happens when a woman moving into a Toronto high-rise decides to take the idea of loving her neighbour seriously. Instead of looking primarily to her workplace or church for friendship, she reaches out to the strangers living around her. What follows is the gradual formation of an unexpected community through shared meals, friendship, writing, celebrations and faith. The book was published by InterVarsity Press and received the Word Guild Award for Best Nonfiction Book of the Year.
At its heart, My Vertical Neighbourhood is a story about loneliness, friendship, hospitality, faith and the possibility of genuine community in an increasingly disconnected world.
The film is being developed as a faith-adjacent feature, intended to engage both faith audiences and the much broader mainstream audience interested in stories about human connection, purpose and community. Faith is an important part of the story and its characters, but the film’s appeal is not intended to be limited to a specifically Christian audience.
The approach reflects Eternal Entertainment’s broader strategy of developing and distributing films in which faith can be present without necessarily defining the genre. The company’s growing streaming platform, EE.watch, provides a dedicated destination for independent faith-based films and family-friendly entertainment, alongside Eternal Entertainment’s financing and distribution activities.
The new project will also reunite much of the creative team behind The Charitable Sisterhood, with discussions underway regarding the potential return of members of its cast.
“What attracted me to Lynda’s book is that it begins with something incredibly simple: the people living around us are not just neighbours — they are people with stories, hopes, disappointments and needs,” said Owen-Sims. “It is a story about faith, but it is equally a story about loneliness, friendship and what happens when we choose to open the door to people who are different from us. Ultimately meeting people where they are and accepting them for who they are – even if we don’t agree on everything!
“… this gives us an opportunity to make a film that can sit comfortably with a faith audience while also reaching well beyond it. The faith is authentic to the characters and the story, rather than being something imposed on the film.”
Building on The Charitable Sisterhood
My Vertical Neighbourhood follows the festival success of The Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church, which was independently produced and filmed in Sydney before travelling internationally.
The film has received recognition across festivals in Australia, the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom, including awards for directing, acting, ensemble performance, comedy, drama and screenwriting.
The Charitable Sisterhood was produced and directed by Dean Owen-Sims p.g.a. and the production brought together an Australian creative and production team, and My Vertical Neighbourhood is intended to build on those established creative relationships.
A Different Kind of Faith-Based Film
While My Vertical Neighbourhood has clear Christian foundations through its source material, the film is being developed as a character-driven story rather than as an overtly evangelical drama.
The ambition is to make a film in which faith, moral choices, relationships and community are organically embedded within the story — allowing the film to speak to audiences who share those beliefs as well as audiences who simply recognise the universal experience of loneliness and the desire to belong.
Eternal Entertainment
Eternal Entertainment is an independent financing and distribution company focused on bringing distinctive films to audiences around the world. The company has a dedicated team overseeing the streaming platform on the Roku ecosystem and online at https://eternalents.com, a growing faith-based streaming platform offering independent Christian films alongside Bible studies, behind-the-scenes material and other faith-based content. The platform’s positioning is “Free. Faith. Films. Forever.”
Eternal Entertainment’s strategy is to connect film financing, production partnerships, distribution and direct audience access, creating sustainable opportunities for independent filmmakers and faith-based screen content.
About My Vertical Neighbourhood
My Vertical Neighbourhood is a feature film currently in screenplay development, based on My Vertical Neighborhood: How Strangers Became a Community by Lynda J. MacGibbon.
Based on the book by: Lynda J. MacGibbon
Writer/Director: Dean Owen-Sims
Production Company: Eternal Entertainment
Status: In Development
Intended Production: Sydney, Australia
Further details regarding casting, financing and production dates will be announced as development progresses.
