21st Century Nuns

Jon Sistiaga takes an immersive trip to Poland, a country divided into two zones: on the one hand, the urban and pro-European, and on the other, the rural and ultra-Catholic, still anchored in the traumas of the war and the post-war period. Is Poland a homophobic country or does it have a homophobic government? How does the European Union allow this situation?

In a first-person documentary, Diako Yazdani, a political refugee in France, returns to see his family in Iraqi Kurdistan and introduces them to a 23-year-old gay man from Kojin who seeks to exist in a society where he seems unable to find its place. With humor and poetry, the director delivers a moving portrait where the meetings of each other invite to a universal reflection on the difference.

We often have ideas of religious life... either kneeling in a convent or out in the streets assisting the poor. While both of these scenes are essential to the life as a sister, Light of Love takes a deeper look into understanding the call... the "why" of religious life. By interviewing five sisters from five orders across the United States, the film places viewers face to face in intimate conversations with these amazing women. What does it mean to be called? What are the struggles of religious life? How have you seen God move through your ministry? These questions and others are addressed throughout the film. The film itself is very simple: 60 minutes designed for viewers to quiet their surroundings and enter into convent, the food pantry, the hospital, and the chapel. With minimal music and simple visuals, Light of Love gives viewers a look into the lives, suffering, and joys of religious life captured in a way like never before.

It is normal for 15-year-old Linn to have two mothers. But when she finds out that there are still numerous siblings, she realizes that she is part of an extraordinary extended family. Her father Eike not only had an appointment with Linn's mothers to donate sperm, Petra and Anny also have three children with him. A film crew followed this rainbow family for twelve years.

A horse and cart carrying two nuns is stopped by two men with fixed bayonets.

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.

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.

In 2012, Stephen Vaughan and Kay Ferreter are invited to address the congregation at St. Joseph's Redemptorists Church in Dundalk, Ireland for the Solemn Novena Festival. In a powerful speech, the pair describe their experiences being gay and lesbian in Ireland, feeling excluded by Catholic doctrine, and the importance of a more inclusive church.

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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 ...

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.

God's Girls describes life in a Sisters of Mercy convent in country New South Wales from the 1940's to present day. This courageous and clever film investigates the subtle complexities of change within a society that has been surrounded by mystery for hundreds of years. The stories from the women in the film reflect the often intricate paths of social, political and religious history, not only in Australia but also in the rest of the world.

We follow the daily activities of Mother Teresa and her nuns, in service to the poor of India and the world. Mother Teresa attends to the basic needs of her nuns and the poor, while at the same time, balances her role as world-recognized leader. Throughout the film, we witness personal and "behind-the-scenes" events, including the blessing ceremony of a nun becoming part of Mother Teresa's "Sisters of the Poor" convent.

Religious-based images and traditions permeate the lives of all the people who inhabit Seville. Historically, the city's mariquitas ("sissies") have also assimilated them in their childhood and, through them, have been creating their own encounter spaces and their own codes. Nowadays, new dissident identities continue to respond to them: they participate or distance themselves, they continue what exists or transform it. This film looks at these traditions from a perspective always relegated to the margins.

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.

Did you know that clownfish change sex from male to female? (So if Nemo’s mom had died in real life, his dad could have become his mom!) Did you know that albatross, penguins and swans parent in same sex pairs? Or that bonobos, who are just as closely related to us as chimps, are matriarchal and have same-sex sex every day?! Narrated by Elliot Page, Second Nature follows trailblazing Evolutionary Biologist Dr. Joan Roughgarden as she meets groundbreaking scientists exploring the 1500+ animal species who engage in same-sex sexual behavior and parenting, change sex, form matriarchies, and more, debunking myths that females are “inferior” and that being queer is “unnatural.” SECOND NATURE — everything you didn’t learn in high school biology.

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.

Erik had to leave Jehovah's Witnesses after coming out as homosexual, now he is going to celebrate christmas for the first time.

This is a documentary about a renowned precentor and a church composer Irina Denissova who suddenly becomes a nun in the apex of her career. At the same time, this is a film about God's love towards man. It seemed that a tragedy had occurred: a family of two prominent musicians was ruined, and Irina was abandoned by her husband while struggling with a serious disease of her son.