Filmmaker Statement

Nun’s Beach is inspired by my great aunt and her fellow nun with whom she lived with for fifty years. My mother has vivid memories of the two nuns huddled together at a family gathering, in habits, whispering to each other. This image immediately struck me as familiar. It immediately reminded me of the stoic piety my girlfriend and I have around my family. We are part of the family but we still hold hands underneath the table. As a queer woman who grew up catholic, I naturally became obsessed with these nuns. I’m obsessed with their unyielding otherness, always shrouded in their habits in group photos. I’m enthralled by the possibility that they navigated a simultaneous relationship with one another and with God. I’m obsessed with their holy, quiet, private love for one another. Through making this film, I had the opportunity to imagine this holy love for my great aunt and to carve out a place for "Sister Flora" and "Sister Muriel" in my family.