Slavery is a Choice is a bold, independent documentary created for people who still believe in truth, responsibility, faith, and freedom.

This film confronts one of the most dangerous lies in modern American culture: that government is our master, that dependency is compassion, and that people are powerless to rise above the systems that seek to control them. Through history, personal legacy, political commentary, and biblical conviction, Slavery is a Choice challenges viewers to reconsider what bondage really looks like in our time.

Directed by Vince Everett Ellison and produced and executive produced by April Chapman—who also stars in the film—this documentary tells a deeply personal and provocative story. Vince was born on a cotton plantation in Haywood County, Tennessee, to a sharecropper father in the Jim Crow South. His family history is not just part of the film’s backdrop. It is part of its burden. This story reaches back into the soil of American history and asks a difficult but necessary question: what happens when a people exchange faith, freedom, discipline, and responsibility for comfort, control, and dependency?

We begin shooting next week, with additional filming scheduled in Haywood County, Tennessee and other key locations. We are raising $30,000 to help fund the next phase of production and finish this film with excellence. These funds will help reimburse major upfront travel costs already paid to get this project moving, while also covering the essential expenses still ahead: airfare, lodging, fuel, meals, on-location production costs, camera crew, editing staff, archival footage, licensing fees, music, and other post-production needs. If we exceed our goal, remaining funds will be reserved for distribution.

This is not a studio project. It is an independent film with a message that many people will oppose precisely because it tells the truth too plainly. That is why your support matters. We are building this film for Christian conservatives, church networks, patriots, and truth-tellers who understand that culture is downstream from belief—and that if we do not tell our own stories, someone else will tell them for us.

When you support this campaign, you are not just helping fund a film. You are helping us finish a message. A message about liberty. A message about moral courage. A message about rejecting the slave mentality that has crippled generations of Americans spiritually, politically, and culturally.

Supporters of this campaign will receive early access to the film, behind-the-scenes production updates, and access to livestream Q&As as we move through filming and post-production.

Our production deadline is June 1, and we need your help now to finish strong.

This film will ultimately be released behind a paywall once complete, with physical DVDs and a streaming package also planned. But before we can distribute it, we have to finish it.

If you believe in bold Christian conservative storytelling…
If you believe truth still matters…
If you believe the next generation needs this message…

Help us bring Slavery is a Choice to the screen.

Founder’s note draft

A Note from Vince Everett Ellison and April Chapman

We believe this film is timely, necessary, and deeply personal.

Slavery is a Choice is more than a documentary title. It is a challenge to the lies that have kept too many Americans spiritually weak, politically manipulated, and dependent on systems that were never meant to save them. This project is rooted in real history, real conviction, and a real burden to tell the truth without compromise.

For Vince, this story reaches back to Haywood County, Tennessee, to the very land and family history that shaped his understanding of freedom, responsibility, and faith. For April, this project represents a commitment to producing bold, independent media that speaks clearly to the cultural and political battles of our day from a biblical worldview.

We are asking you to partner with us because independent truth-telling requires independent support. We are not asking people to fund empty entertainment. We are asking them to help us complete a film that confronts bondage in its old forms and its modern ones.

Thank you for standing with us, believing in this message, and helping us finish what we believe God has put before us to do.

— Vince Everett Ellison & April Chapman

Documentary: Slavery Is a Choice

By Standard House Media

Documentary: Slavery Is a Choice

confronting the lies of dependency, reclaiming the truth about freedom, and telling a story America desperately needs to hear.

Team Members