By Georgia Entertainment staff
We sat down with Alex Miller of Craig Miller Productions to talk about its latest project, “Beyond Unstoppable,” the final film from Georgia production legend Craig Miller. His family is carrying his vision forward, and the result is exactly the kind of Georgia story he spent his career telling.
Can you tell us a little about the film “Beyond Unstoppable” and what inspired the story?
Miller: Discover DeKalb decided early in 2025 to invest heavily in soccer tourism, as both the Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup 2026 and the US Soccer National Training Center come to the Atlanta area. James Tsisminakis reached out to his board member, Craig Miller, owner of CMP, to inquire about making a narrative short film.
We met with James, who shared that he had goals for the film: to showcase soccer in DeKalb County, to showcase the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority system, to let soccer fans worldwide know they could book their stay in DeKalb and easily get to all of the World Cup games, and to share the refugee experience in DeKalb County. It is the home to the largest population of refugees in the United States, which makes for a welcoming community for global travelers.
We set to work researching soccer in DeKalb and the refugee experience, and chose to focus the story on Somali refugees, not only because it’s such a vibrant population in DeKalb, but also because the timing worked for the story, as to events in Somalia that led to a rise in that population.
What were some of the biggest resources (locations, crew, community support) that helped bring your film to life?
Miller: We cannot say enough about how amazing it was to work with MARTA. They provided locations, security (who truly earned their daily rate, keeping curious riders away from the equipment and out of the shot!), and would have done even more for us with more time. They are an amazing filmmaking partner, and the architecture in those stations is visually stunning and, in fact, helps tell the story.
What were the biggest challenges your team faced while making this film, and how did you overcome them?
Miller: We were challenged by the compressed timeframe, more than anything. If we had it to do over again, we would have had early production meetings with all of the department heads, so that everyone knew what was needed on shoot days. Some delays were caused by waiting for the right camera gear and costumes to show up, but it all worked itself out. We had to pivot hard on the shooting schedule at times, and some scenes set during the day were changed to evening or night by the time they were shot, but it all worked out.
DeKalb plays such a strong role in the film, both as a setting and a presence behind the scenes. What was your experience working within that community, and how important was it to you to tell this story authentically in that specific place?
Miller: The beauty of focusing on DeKalb to tell a story about refugees and soccer is that all of the elements are already there, in the location and the culture. We can reference Your DeKalb Farmers Market, we can show a range of economic situations, and we had a solid community to bring in as background performers and soccer players. We also had the beauty of Station Soccer, an initiative of Soccer in the Streets, which built soccer fields at MARTA stations, so that kids and adults from all communities could actually get to their games and practices. It is such an inspired solution to one of the obstacles low-income communities face when it comes to participating in sports that we had to include those fields in the film.
Can you walk us through the process of bringing this project to life in Georgia, from assembling your team to casting and production, and how the local infrastructure and talent influenced the film you ultimately made?
Miller: Craig Miller was the driver of this production. He made sure the locations were right, the cast, the equipment, the edit. No detail escaped him. On the day we were shooting on the soccer fields, Craig thought the shot would look better if the players were wearing practice pinnies, so he sent the costumer to a local sports store to buy them, and he was right! You’ll see it in the final film. It elevates the scene and makes them look like a real team. We had everything we needed here, whether it was crew, locations or post-production facilities, the filmmaking community in metro Atlanta is going strong. Losing Craig prior to the completion of post-production was such an enormous blow, and his heart is in every frame.
What does Atlanta Film Festival recognition represent for you and your team, particularly as filmmakers working within and telling stories from this community?
Miller: Having the privilege of premiering at the Atlanta Film Festival represents the full-circle completion of our mission: to showcase people, a place and a sport that mean so much here. Everything about this project is home-grown in Atlanta, and it would not have happened without the vision of Discover DeKalb and the skill and tenacity of Craig Miller, so this is truly the best audience to share our film with for the first time.
On a personal level, from the CMP, this film is Craig Miller’s last production and his last legacy. His vision was to screen it at the Atlanta Film Festival. We’re sure he’s smiling down in pride of accomplishment. He loved Georgia, he loved Atlanta, and he loved stories. Craig’s heart and soul went into filmmaking. Craig brought filmmaking tax credits to Georgia to tell Georgia stories, and in his legacy, he did. That’s a move in and of itself.
What do you hope audiences take away from this film?
Miller: Audiences will see the beauty of a community coming together through sports to overcome loss and rediscover joy. They will see the richness of people from all walks of life learning how to live again in a new place, especially when that place is DeKalb County, where community soccer is available to everyone and can be a healing balm. They will see how a boy angry at his circumstances, a girl isolated in her own home, a mother working two jobs to keep her tiny family afloat and a father paralyzed by grief can find each other on a soccer field and form the family each of them needs.
Alex Miller I Producer I alexmiller@craigmiller.tv
Ben Miller I ProducerI benmiller@craigmiller.tv
The Georgia Entertainment Indie Spotlight, sponsored by Universal Production Services at Assembly Studios, is a recurring feature dedicated to showcasing independent filmmakers with strong ties to Georgia. Through written Q&As, profiles, and other coverage, we aim to celebrate the creativity, resourcefulness, and impact of local filmmakers who are contributing to the state’s growing film ecosystem.
