LOVERS OF THE NIGHT
A film by Anna Frances Ewert
2018, 57 minutes minutes
2018, 57 minutes minutes
No. 193
Documentary
Documentary
Description
Seven elderly monks in a small Cistercian monastery in Ireland strive to keep their spiritual life and fragile community going. With shaky voices – but deeply committed – they gather in church seven times a day to pray.
A passionate rugby fan with a great devotional heart, 88-year-old Alberic stands at the center of the film, weaving together the monks' individual stories and revealing the vulnerability of old age.
While Alberic, who is slowly losing his eyesight, tries to decipher texts from the Christian mystics and the rugby news in the papers, Brother Francis trains on an old treadmill and Father Ambrose attempts to catch a runaway calf.
With moving honesty and humour, the monks confide their most tender secrets and share often surprising insights into their life journeys.
Anna Frances Ewert's sublime and heartwarming documentary is a wonder, an attempt to capture the heart of a unique place before it vanishes, and to portray the yearning of the human spirit for the infinite in a transient world.
Festivals
Official Selection, True/False Film Festival
Official Selection, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Official Selection, Sheffield Film Festival
Official Selection, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Official Selection, Sheffield Film Festival
Reviews
"Lovers of the Night is both supremely confident and achingly compassionate filmmaking, as Ewert deftly plays the roles of director, cinematographer, and audience herself. It’s a film that doesn’t bask in the spiritual glories of a life well-lived, but instead lets these eclectic beautiful lives speak for themselves." - Cinema Faith
