Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Where Was Lifetime’s Faith in the Flames: The Nichole Jolly Story Filmed?

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Lifetime’s upcoming original film Faith in the Flames: The Nichole Jolly Story premieres July 19 and tells the inspiring true story of a nurse who risked her life to save others during one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history. The movie was directed by Jozua Malherbe and written by Kelly Fullerton. Chrissy Metz, who was nominated for an Emmy, plays Nichole Jolly, a dedicated nurse in Paradise, California, who gets caught up in the chaos of the 2018 Camp Fire.

Even though the movie is set in the town of Paradise in Northern California, which was destroyed by the Camp Fire, the actual filming took place a long way from where the events really happened.

Main Filming Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Though rooted in real events from Paradise, California, Faith in the Flames was filmed entirely in and around Cape Town, South Africa.The directors chose this location because it has a variety of landscapes, experienced crews, and low-cost infrastructure that makes it a good stand-in for the American West Coast in both real life and movies.

In South Africa, the production company Film Afrika was in charge of everything. Their team worked with Lifetime’s U.S. partners to make the scenes look and feel like California’s mountainous terrain, suburban neighbourhoods and forested landscapes, which were all important parts of telling Nichole Jolly’s story.

faith-in-the-flames-true story fimed south Africa

Why Cape Town?

A lot of big international productions want to film in Cape Town now. With its varied landscapes, ranging from wooded hills to quiet town streets, it looked a lot like Paradise, California. South Africa was a great place to film Faith in the Flames because it looked great and gave the filmmakers more control over how the wildfire scenes were set up, thanks to specialised facilities and controlled filming environments.

This made it possible for the filmmakers to show fire and evacuation scenes in a safe and effective way, which would have been harder to do in real California areas prone to wildfires.

Behind-the-Scenes: Global Collaboration

Faith in the Flames is the result of a collaborative international effort. The film is produced by Lighthouse Pictures and Wishing Floor Films, in partnership with Film Afrika and Motion Entertainment, a WPP Media company.

Key executive producers include Jameson Parker, Catherine Kretz, and Gemma Martini for Lighthouse Pictures; Danielle von Zerneck for Wishing Floor Films; and Richard Foster and Chet Fenster for Motion Entertainment. The local producers for Film Afrika—Rudi Van As, Nicola Unsworth, and Schalk Berger—were very important in running things on-site.

Real Story, Different Setting

While filming took place thousands of miles from California, the heart of the story remains true to Nichole Jolly’s experience. In November 2018, she was working as a nurse at Adventist Health Feather River Hospital when the Camp Fire struck. She helped evacuate patients and risked her life in the process.

The South African landscape served as the stage but the filmmakers focused on emotional accuracy. TTheir goal was to honour the brave people who fought one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history through performances, stories, and accurate recreations.

Filming Techniques and Safety Measures

To realistically portray the fast-moving chaos of a wildfire, the production combined practical fire effects, smoke simulations, and visual effects in post-production. When films were shot in South Africa, they could use bigger outdoor areas for controlled fire scenes. This kept the actors and crew safe without lowering the intensity of the scenes.

A Global Story with Local Impact

Although an American story at its core, the making of Faith in the Flames reflects the global reach of filmmaking today. With filming in South Africa and producers from Canada and the U.S., the project bridges continents to tell a powerful, real-life story of heroism and survival.

As part of its release campaign, Lifetime and A+E Media have partnered with the Rebuild Paradise Foundation, helping support ongoing recovery efforts in Northern California.

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Hazel Lewis
Hazel Lewishttps://netfilming.com
Hazel Lewis is the Senior News Writer at Net Filming and a passionate fan of movies, comics, and television, with a collection to match. When she's not diving into pop culture, Hazel enjoys spending time with her two daughters and her beloved dog. She's also an avid gym-goer, a fine coffee enthusiast, and a devoted doughnut lover.

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