Feature Film: Child of the Shroud, by David Young and Lana White

Title of Story: Child of the Shroud

Written by: David Young and Lana White

Logline: When an ambitious scientist inserts DNA from The Shroud of Turin into the fertilized egg of an unsuspecting childless couple, they give birth to a child who may be Christ reincarnated and struggle to keep him safe from powerful people who would take him from them and use him to
their own advantages.

Synopsis: Ron Fitzgerald is part of a team of scientists that studies the
Shroud of Turin in Italy in the 1970s. He later breaks with his
colleagues over the Shroud’s authenticity. Determined to prove
that the Shroud is indeed the real thing, he steals a *sample of
the cloth for carbon dating analysis and returns to the States.
With the help of his friend and mentor, Chicago biogenetic researcher and fertility lab director Joseph King, DNA is taken from the Shroud that confirms that the Shroud is genuine. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald is stonewalled in his efforts to publicize his results.

An increasingly obsessed Fitzgerald switches the Shroud DNA with the frozen embryo of a couple from Cincinnati, the Colbys. He believes that once a child is born with Christ’s DNA, the world will finally know the truth. The news gives King a heart attack, but before he dies, he confesses to a priest what they’ve done. Father Mattingly informs his superiors in the Catholic Church, who have connections with the U.S. government, and who are now tracking Samantha and Jason Colby’s every move until the baby is born. The couple happily welcomes their son Joey into the world, unaware of his divine heritage, and of the terror that awaits them.

Samantha and Jason want Joey to grow up and live a normal life, but everyone lays claim to their adorable and precocious son. In exchange for a large sums of money, a corrupt televangelist makes a deal with Fitzgerald to gain guardianship over the boy. The Catholic Church, meanwhile, believes Joey represents the culmination of an ancient prophecy and uses its influence within the government to have the boy turned over to its care.

Fitzgerald eventually realizes that faith isn’t about what can or cannot be proven.

He arranges for Joey to be safely spirited away, out of reach of those who wish to harm him or use him for their own personal gain, including his own.

Genre: Thriller, Drama, Adventure

Type: Feature Screenplay