The Wind Whispers Mary
Written by: R Carter Gray

Eli Knowles, a disabled American vet of the Ethiopian-Eritrean civil war, engages African-American college professor Mary Elsworth in a discussion about the origins of mankind, Leonardo da Vinci's "vandalized" fresco The Last Supper and the racial identity of Jesus. The park bench discussion results in a presentation by Eli to some of Mary's colleagues, which raises controversial questions about the biblical Mary Magdalene, threatening Mary's standing in her department. THE WIND WHISPERS MARY features the music of Jimi Hendrix.

Bio:

R. Carter Gray is a freelance journalist, screenwriter and Vietnam-era vet, who served as a military intelligence specialist in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Cairo after being drafted in 1972. Gray has achieved runner-up, finalist and semi-finalist honors in three international film-festival screenwriting competitions for THE WIND WHISPERS MARY and COUNTING COUP.

THE WIND WHISPERS MARY is the story of a disabled American vet of the Ethiopian-Eritrean civil war who engages an African-American college professor in a discussion about the origins of mankind, Leonardo da Vinci's "vandalized" fresco The Last Supper and the racial identity of Jesus. COUNTING COUP, based on the Hidatsa Indian tribe of South Dakota and Missouri, recounts the loss and recovery of a medicine bundle used in rainmaking ceremonies from a New York museum and collector artifacts George Heye. COUNTING COUP is based on a true story. THE KNIFE IN JUDAS' BACK, a screenplay about a betrayed man who is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, has been entered by Gray in the Atlanta and European film festivals.

A former reporter and editor for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Gray attended the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and holds degrees in English, psychology and mass communications. He is a student of film, Judaism, and Ethiopian and Coptic history and literature. Gray is working on a new screenplay titled CYRUS THE GREAT, which recounts the invasion of ancient Babylon by Cyrus the Great, a messianic figure. The story focuses on the Jewish diaspora in Babylon, the prophecies of Daniel and the return of the Jews to Jerusalem.

2009 Script Selections