Last week politics. This week religion. It’s another hot topic week on BEHIND THE LENS as filmmakers YUVAL DAVID and MARK McDERMOTT talk about their new documentary WONDERFULLY MADE-LGBTQ+R(eligion), plus our exclusive interview with director AGNIESZKA SMOCZYNSKA talking about THE SILENT TWINS.
You’ve got to hear it to believe and understand as we dive head first into WONDERFULLY MADE-LGBTQ+R(eligion), a documentary that explores the challenges and aspirations of LGBTQ+ Catholics and the hurdles that religious doctrine presents to full acceptance of LGBTQ+ people everywhere. An interesting, enlightening, and educational documentary that began as a photo art project and bloomed into this well-rounded engaging film thanks to the passion and vision of director and narrator YUVAL DAVID and his husband and executive producer MARK McDERMOTT who, as a person of faith, expanded the need for this conversation.
Going chapter and verse (check out Psalms 139:14) through the “making of” WONDERFULLY MADE, hear Yuval and Mark talk about the need for not only LGBTQ+ individuals to be welcomed into and embraced by the Catholic church, but the need for religious iconography that goes beyond the centuries-old traditional Christian iconography of Christ and be more inclusive. As we learn from Yuval and Mark, it is that belief that gave rise to the fine art photo project which Yuval then took to the next level, using the photo project as the “spine” of the documentary and then building around that with interviews of voices within the Catholic church and the LGBTQ+ community; voices like Reverend James Martin, S.J., Bryan Massingale, Marianne Duddy-Burke and Sister Jeannine Gramick, among many others. With extensive research of archival materials showing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the polarization of the Catholic church and the LGBTQ+ community, Yuval and Mark talk about the importance of including that material and their labor-intensive research (even into the Dark Web) in obtaining it.
But at the heart of WONDERFULLY MADE-LGBTQ+R(eligion) is the developing photo project as we meet models and hear their stories, all leading up to one of the most beautiful and powerful montages of Christian iconography depicting Jesus as a member/ally of the LGBTQ+ community, a montage set to a chorale score by composer Ariel Blumenthal that will fill you with the Holy Spirit when you hear it. Yuval and Mark discuss the score not only for the montage but the documentary as a whole and so much more. A passionate and interesting conversation you don’t want to miss.
WONDERFULLY MADE-LGBTQ+R(eligion) is currently on the festival circuit. To stay abreast of where the film is screening and its future distribution, as well as ways to show support for the film, go to the film’s website wonderfullymadefilm.com, or any of its social media platforms:
Instagram: @WonderfullyMadeMovie
Twitter: @wonderful_made_
Facebook: @WonderfullyMadeLGBTQReligion
But first, take a listen to my exclusive conversation with director AGNIESZKA SMOCZYNSKA as she delves into her process for delivering the cinematic stunner THE SILENT TWINS based on the real-life story of twins June and Jenny Gibbons.
One of the most technically proficient and knowledgeable filmmakers of this generation, as you’ll hear, AGNIESZKA SMOCZYNSKA’s understanding of sound and editing are key to the telling of this story, that of the twins June and Jenny Gibbons, while staying true to the authenticity of their lives and yet bringing the creativity within their minds’ eye to life through vivid stop-motion animation. What makes the story of June and Jenny so fascinating is that they didn’t speak to people; only to themselves and unless cloistered behind the doors of their bedroom, in tones so hushed as to be barely audible to anyone but each other. Taking us from their childhood in Wales up into adulthood and incarceration at a high-security psychiatric hospital we get not only a better understanding of them together, but also as individuals.
Directed by AGNIESZKA SMOCZYNSKA as her first English-language film and written by Andrea Seigel based on Marjorie Wallace’s book of the same name, THE SILENT TWINS tells the story of June and Jenny Gibbons from their point of view for the very first time. THE SILENT TWINS stars Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance as June and Jenny, respectively, with Leah Mondesir-Simmonds and Eva-Arianna Baxter mirroring them as the younger versions of June and Jenny. Also joining the cast is Michael Smiley as child psychologist Tim Thomas and Jodhi May stars as Marjorie Wallace.
Not an easy film to translate for the screen, in this exclusive interview, Agnieszka talks at length about her process for making the film cinematic while staying authentic to the truth and the girls’ story. Using sound design/mix, film editing, and cinematography as the cornerstones of this process, Agnieszka goes into detail discussing her work with cinematographer Kuba Kijowski and the importance of finding pace and tone with her editor Agnieszka Glinska. A fascinating part of our conversation deals with sound design and mix and the layering of specific ambient notes, the hushed barely audible whispers of June and Jenny, and the incredible haunting score of Marcin Macuk which is a key aural element to the film’s dialogue. But no matter how technically excellent the film is, it would fall apart without the right cast and that was a two-fold challenge as not only did Agnieszka have to find two actors to play teenaged-into-adulthood June and Jenny who were physically similar and had the discipline to mirror and mimic in perfect synchronicity, but she had to cast young actors to play the girls in their youth who could do the same. The result of this hard work is a film that both fascinates and mesmerizes.
