By Laura Cenge
Chloe Bailey, known for her role in the television series “Grown-ish,” is set to make her big-screen debut in the upcoming 2023 film “Praise This.” Directed by Tina Gordon Chism, the movie features an outstanding cast that includes Crystal Renee Hayslett, Quavo, Kendrick Cross, Cocoa Brown, Tristan Wilds, Anjelika Washington, and others.
The movie follows the musical life of an ambitious young musician called Sam, who is sent to live with her cousin in Atlanta for the summer. She then joins her cousin’s competitive youth gospel choir team that manages to make roads meet in the Atlanta music scene. However, this was not her exact plan, but she believes it would be her break through into the entertainment business. Sam later discovers that ambition can command a high price and that praise is not about glory but gratitude.
The director, Tina Gordon, draws her inspiration for the movie from watching her own family try their best to balance church and the late-night music scene. She revealed that her uncles were all musicians in the church but also played in clubs on Saturday nights. Her grandmother would ensure that she got them up and playing at her church on Sunday morning. For this reason, she decided to create this movie, “Praise This,” so that she could blend the two worlds of music.
Gordon also adds that it is a movie of faith that is not filled with preaching but a great intersection of humor and faith, sinners and saints, and club and church.
The release date for the movie in theaters is still pending, but it will be available on Peacock on April 7, 2023, in the US.
