Les Pères Chartreux

Into Great Silence

September 2005 •German

An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.

Sisters

July 2023 •French

Just outside of Paris, there is a community of Benedictine nuns. They come from diverse backgrounds and do not all speak the same language. In between prayers, they work to sustain their religious community. They sell handmade rosaries and operate guest rooms where they also accommodate refugees in need of shelter, such as Halyna, who fled from Ukraine. The older nuns teach the younger ones, transcending cultural boundaries. Every day, the sisters learn to live together a little better, always following the rules of Saint Benedict, whom they have followed into this cloistered life.

A Monk's Secret

September 2009 •French

This short documentary tells the story of a cheese—the famous Oka—and of the monks who make it. The Trappists in Oka, Quebec, began making the cheese around 1890, when a Trappist monk from France taught them the recipe, which dates back to the 11th century. Today, Brother Albéric continues to make the cheese at an abbey in Manitoba according to traditional methods and a secret recipe written in a mysterious notebook.

Where are you, Adam?

September 2020 •Greek

The plot of the film unfolds in the ancient monastery of Dokhiar on the west coast of Mount Athos, on the Aegean peninsula. This peninsula is given to the exclusive use of the monks of Eastern Christianity. Images of nature are woven into a virtually uninterrupted series of work and prayer, lining up in the rhythmic interrelation of man and nature. The central figure of the film was the monastery’s elder, Hegumen Gregory, whose long-term experience of spiritual nourishment rewarded him with a deep understanding of the human soul and her desire to return to the state characteristic of Adam’s human nature before the fall.

Merton: A Film Biography

January 1984 •English

In his lifetime, Thomas Merton was hailed as a prophet and censured for his outspoken social criticism. For nearly 27 years he was a monk of the austere Trappist order, where he became an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace. Merton: A Film Biography provides the first comprehensive look at this remarkable 20th century religious philosopher who wrote, in addition to his immensely popular autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, over 60 books on some of the most pressing social issues of our time, some of which are excerpted here. Merton offers an engaging profile of a man whose presence in the world touched millions of people and whose words and thoughts continue to have a profound impact and relevance today.

Libres

April 2023 •Spanish

For centuries, many men and women have left everything to dedicate their lives to contemplation. LIBRES, is a journey into the interior of man. We have obtained permission to enter and speak with people who rarely speak, in places that remain closed to the world: monasteries. What leads a person to divest himself of the world he knows, to withdraw from it for the rest of his life? How does such a person think? LIBRES approaches great questions of the existence of man, with a single objective: to listen to them.

On the Other Side

November 2022 •French

The oldest Quebecois Benedictine convent open its gates to a documentary filmmaker for the first time. Observed up close, life behind its walls is busier than one would expect. About twenty cloistered nuns, most of them over 70, share their daily life with diligence and humor. A contemplative portrait of a community of sisterhood and solidarity emerges, punctuated by prayer, work and games evenings.

Devout

January 2016 •English

DEVOUT reveals an archaic utopia, a timeless spiritual sphere that is as beautiful and harsh as the mountain terrain of the Caucasus, tempting but unforgiving, a riddle like God and faith as mysterious as the human condition.

Dáma v čiernom

January 1963 •Slovak

Horarium

April 2020 •English

The nuns of the Anglican Benedictine Community at St. Mary's Abbey, West Malling, reflect on their calling and the joys and challenges of their way of life. In this short documentary, directed by Jamie Hughes, the nuns' voices are complemented by images from the life of the Abbey.

The Carthusian Cloistered Monastery

November 2020 •Korean

Leur souffle

March 2019 •French

Father Lenin

April 2019 •Italian

An evocative and unsettling journey through christian and also deeply communist Kerala. Amidst red flags and altar boys, between the sea and the jungle, mixing the language of reportage and that of fable, the unedited docufilm tells the touching, profound, at times funny stories of a group of priests and nuns in the days leading up to Easter.

The Innocents

February 2016 •French

Poland, 1945. Mathilde, a young French Red Cross doctor, is on a mission to help the war survivors. When a nun seeks for her help, she is brought to a convent where several pregnant sisters are hiding, unable to reconcile their faith with their pregnancy. Mathilde becomes their only hope.

The Breakfast

January 1998 •English

Curly Mulligan is the pupil who brings the headmaster a full fry-up every morning. When the head finds a hair in his breakfast, all hell breaks loose.

Fear No Evil

September 1945 •Italian

The life of Saint Benedict, the founder of Western Monasticism.

A Violent Desire for Joy

December 2018 •French

Region of Occitania, France, 1792. As the storm of revolution devastates the country, young monk Gabriel and his companions live peacefully in the Franciscan monastery of Saorge, near the Italian border. But everything changes with the arrival of the beautiful Marianne and a military detachment.

TWST / Things We Said Today

February 2025 •English

A time capsule of New York City between August 13-15, 1965, framed by the Beatles’ arrival in the city and their first concert at Shea Stadium. The film consists exclusively of archive material from the period (ABC, CBS, NBC), 8mm home movies and images of the concert, which was recorded with fourteen 35mm cameras. Four teenagers are sent on a trip through time and inserted in the archive material by means of animation.

Russians at War

September 2024 •English

Anastasia Trofimova, a Russian-Canadian filmmaker, gains unprecedented access to follow a Russian Army battalion in Ukraine. Without any official clearance or permits, she earns the trust of foot soldiers and embeds herself over the span of a year with one battalion as it makes its way across Eastern Ukraine. What she discovers is far from the propaganda and labels pushed by the East or West: an army in disarray, soldiers disillusioned and often struggling to understand what they are fighting for.

Separated

October 2024 •English

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Errol Morris confronts one of the darkest chapters in recent American history: family separations. Based on NBC News Political and National Correspondent Jacob Soboroff’s book, Separated: Inside an American Tragedy, Morris merges bombshell interviews with government officials and artful narrative vignettes tracing one migrant family’s plight. Together they show that the cruelty at the heart of this policy was its very purpose. Against this backdrop, audiences can begin to absorb the U.S. government’s role in developing and implementing policies that have kept over 1300 children without confirmed reunifications years later, according to the Department of Homeland Security.