DBU Student Emma Sumlin Premieres Timeless on University Hill

In August 2025, Dallas Baptist University student Emma Sumlin premiered her short film Timeless with a private screening in Rogers Theater, drawing more than 130 friends, family members, cast, and crew. The project was a true campus collaboration, with over 35 DBU students and professors contributing their time and talent to bring Emma's vision to life, including Jonathan Collins, co-director of Timeless, who also served as cinematographer and editor. Emma shares that the two made a great team; she brought the vision, and Jonathan brought it to life with precision behind the camera.

The black-and-white silent film tells the love story of Pearce and Marjorie, whose world is forever changed when Pearce is drafted into the Second World War. The screening marked the culmination of three years of vision, creativity, and prayer poured into the project.

Emma's love for classic romance inspired the story. In April 2023, she and her best friend, Grace Adams, who would later star as Marjorie, dreamed up the concept together in Emma's dorm room. "Immediately, both our minds thought of 1940s Hollywood. We wanted to make a film that felt and looked like an old movie," Emma recalls. That same night, she asked Grace to take on the role of Marjorie Kent. "No one else but Grace could have been Marjorie."

The script began in an unlikely place, during Emma's breaks at Outback Steakhouse, scribbled in her green journal under the working title "1940s WWII Love Story." By the fall of 2023, she began shaping a full screenplay, one that moved friends and family to tears on first reading.

Inspired by classics such as It's a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, and Schindler's List, Emma and her crew worked to recreate the feel of vintage Hollywood, from the use of light and shadow to hand-painted posters designed by DBU alumna Kylie Guentherman. Even the trailers were crafted to echo golden-era films like Gone with the Wind and Waterloo Bridge.

Resources were limited, but passion was not. Emma shares that the two made a great team. She brought the vision, and Jonathan brought it to life with precision behind the camera. The crew filmed at Emma's grandparents' home in Springtown, Texas, a location that elevated the film's production value. "My producer showed stills from Timeless to an experienced filmmaker who said our production value looked big budget," Emma remembers.

Throughout production, Emma continually saw God's provision. From unexpected donations, including one DBU parent who gave $3,000, to support from Kingdom Story Company, where she interned, each gift confirmed that this project was right where the Lord wanted it to be. Even filming at the Grapevine Vintage Railroad was a miracle: permission was granted, the contract approved, and at the last moment, the filming fee was reduced to $0. "I was reminded again of the faithfulness and goodness of the Lord," Emma shares.

From the first scene filmed in July 2024 to the powerful church sequences, every moment brought Emma's dream to life. The score, composed by DBU student Grace Mitchell, gave the final cut its emotional depth. "I was grateful to the Lord," Emma reflects. "All of our hard work. Not just mine. Over a hundred people's hard work. And Grace had put the cherry on top."

The project became more than a film; it became a ministry. "The goal was to show the love of Jesus to everyone on set, but God did so much more than that," Emma says. One actress even rededicated her life to Christ during production.

The journey culminated not only on University Hill but also in Hollywood. In September 2025, Timeless premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, alongside Classic, another project Emma worked on a couple of months before shooting Timeless. "Those premiere days were special for all of us, since many of us worked on both films," Emma says.

Looking back, Emma sees the experience as a testimony of God's faithfulness and a glimpse of what's possible when students use their gifts for His glory. "The opportunity for Timeless to be shown in Hollywood is truly something only God could do. It makes me wonder, if DBU students could channel the same passion into their creative projects as they do sharing the Gospel, how would the world be changed?"

As Emma looks to the future, she hopes to keep making films, encourage musicians to keep making music, and see all creative gifts used for the glory of God. "The Lord brought all of us together to create art that ultimately showed people, through the experience of creating, what His love looks like. To Him be the glory. This is not our success, but His."

For more information on Timeless, visit the website.