We’re in a documentary!
February 17 is the world premiere of Final Vows a documentary film by Victoria Westover about Santa Rita Abbey!
It was in 2018 that Victoria Westover first approached our Mother Victoria Murray about her desire to create a documentary film about nuns. We were very cautious at first. It is true that other monasteries in our Trappist Cistercian order had documentary films made about them, and we wished we could do the same for our monastery, but who was Victoria Westover and what exactly did she have in mind? People often have strange ideas about nuns, and we did not want to be portrayed in a distorted way.
We needn’t have worried! Victoria Westover has an extensive background as producer of documentary films, including serving as the Director of the Hanson FilmTV Institute at The University of Arizona from 2004-2020, and she was genuinely curious about the lives of nuns and wanted to be able to communicate what she learned through the medium of film.
The first of many visits to our monastery occurred in late 2018 (or was it early 2019?) and over the years we developed a relationship of trust and openness. The film team included producer and director Victoria Westover, producer Susan Slonaker, producer Sande Zeig, cinematographer and editor Jonathan VanBallenberghe, and sound recordist Eren McGinnis.
The finished film will have its world premier at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival on February 17, with online screening from Feb 19-24 ONLY! We had our own private screening of the film back in November when Vicky and Jonathan came to show it to us. We loved it! We hope you will, too!
Click here to view the trailer
Register for Feb 19-24 online streaming
As far as we know, this will be the only opportunity for you to watch Final Vows until this fall when it will be released by First Run Features. A screening at the Fox Theater in Tucson is in the works, too. We’ll post updates as we learn more details.