The Nun

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.

Easter Customs

January 1954 •Macedonian

Traditions during Easter holidays in the remote village of Grešnica. The film was a research project of the newly opened Ethnological Museum to preserve the disappearing customs at least on film for future generations.

Legacy

November 2016 •Serbian

In this film the last living witnesses of the events from Second World War are telling their stories and thus transferring silenced victim’s voices to present times.

Sunny Night

October 2017 •Georgian

On 25th December 2011 the Georgian Patriarch Ilia II described his 34 year-long leadership as head of the Georgian Orthodox Church as a ‘sunny night’. Beginning in 1989, and going up to the present, the film essay Sunny Night tells of political and social events since Georgian Independence. A variety of formats and sources, disparate images and voices report on protests, recommencements, uproars and wars, and religious identity that centres around the dominant religion of the nation. In the midst of the ongoing shifts and the various state of affairs, the patriarch stands out as the only constant figure. Meanwhile the sermonised religion begins to take on radical forms, going as far as priests forming front row human-chains, leading protests of several thousand orthodox believers chasing a handful of LGBT activist throughout the streets of Tbilisi in May 2013.

Hexenkinder

September 2020 •German

The movie recalls children who suffered mental and physical harm both during the last century, particularly in religious orphanages, and during the time of early modernperiod witch-hunts. It shows that the mindsets and behavioural patterns of both time periods are more alike than one might think.

Kekaiulu Hula Studio

November 2022 •English

Kekaiulu Hula Studio follows the Proclaimed Hula Halau of the same name, showcasing their twist on what the real reason for hula is and what life as a dancer in the halau is really like. Something previously unseen in the public eye.

Madwoman of God

January 2008 •French

This feature-length film tells the story of the passion between Marie de l’Incarnation, a mid-seventeenth-century nun and God, her "divine spouse." Fusing documentary and acting by Marie Tifo, whom we follow as she rehearses for this demanding role, the film paints an astonishing portrait of this mystic who abandoned her son and left France to build a convent in Canada, where she became the first female writer in New France.

So This Is God's Country?

January 1966 •Italian

A Mondo documentary focused on the 1960's American lifestyle, consumerism, religion, adversity, and oddity. An outsider's look at a country afflicted by episodes of racism and neo -Nazism. Scenes of a Ghost Town, LSD in NYC, Sunset Strip Los Angeles California, Amish, Klu Klux Klan, African-American Fashion Show, etc.

The Vatican Exorcisms

May 2013 •English

The Vatican Exorcisms was shot by Joe Marino, an American film-maker who went to Italy to shed light on the phenomenon of exorcisms. Accompanied by Padre Luigi, a true exorcist, Joe travels to the south of Italy, a place where the sacred and profane have always lived together, where Christian rituals are inextricably linked to the pagan ones.

Good News

April 1994 •Russian

The "Good News" is a film dedicated to one of the main holidays of Orthodox Christians: the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos. The main idea of this holiday is the beginning of the liberation of the human race from sins and eternal death, the joyful news about the upcoming birth of Jesus Christ. The film shows how people living in the remote Russian village are preparing for the Annunciation, marking the turning point of winter and the beginning of field work. Everyday details of the parish community life help to feel Russian Orthodox customs that have been formed for centuries.

Search and You Will Find It

September 1992 •Russian

The film is based on the events of the 4th International Orthodox Music Festival held in Moscow in February, 1992. The Festival featured not only such famous works as Rakhmaninov's "The All Night Service" and "Liturgy" but also the first performance of the latest interpretations of ancient Russian songs and the sensational first performance of Sviridov's cycle of "spiritual songs".

Breaking Habits

April 2019 •English

A former corporate executive fleeing a bad marriage becomes a cannabis farmer, forms a company called Sisters of the Valley and takes on the persona of a nun, Sister Kate.

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

21st Century Nuns

January 1994 •English

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are an order of gay male 'nuns', founded in San Francisco in the late 1970s with a goal to "expiate all stigmatic guilt and promulgate universal joy". There are now thousands of nuns all over the world including 30 in Britain, some of whom we meet in Tom Stephan's short documentary, which follows the Sisters' work as active campaigners in the LGBT community.

Hell's Angel

November 1994 •English

Christopher Hitchens investigates whether Mother Teresa of Calcutta deserves her saintly image. He probes her campaigns against contraception and abortion and her questionable relationships with right-wing political leaders.

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 Monastery

September 2019 •French

For the first time, cloistered sisters agree to be filmed for one year in all aspects of their lives. The nuns of Berthierville, the only Francophone community of Dominican nuns in North America for nearly a century, engage in a rare and unique documentary in which exceptional testimonies and archives intermingle.

Les Scandales de « La Religieuse »

November 2023 •French

Released in 1796 posthumously, The Nun, a novel that Diderot did not dream of publishing during his lifetime, as he knew it to be revolutionary, caused the same explosion in the 19th century France as in that of the 1960s, when Jacques Rivette decided to adapt it, with Anna Karina in the title role. “This film is banned and it will remain so!” said the General de Gaulle. Exploration of an indictment of incredible modernity which, through the tragedy of the young Suzanne, locked up in the convent against her will, denounces the inequity of a society denying women all moral, political and sexual freedom.

Sœur Sourire: Who Killed the Voice of God?

June 2021 •French

1962. A crystalline voice becomes a planetary tube. A Belgian nun jostles Elvis and the Beatles on the world charts. Her name: Sister Smile. A popstar with the trajectory of a comet who understands her success no more than the double meaning of her words… The harder the fall will be. Even God does not protect sharks' appetites or pretenses of success! Who killed the little voice of God? Here is the tragic story of an innocent voice, of an extraordinary fate, almost of a curse ...