God As My Witness (2025)

A new documentary examines the Catholic clergy molestation scandal in Louisiana, screens at the 33rd Raindance Film Festival this June. The film is directed by Lindsay Quinn Pitre.

A harrowing and hard watch of a film over its 82 minute run time, about the lengths and depths of depravity men of the cloth went to hide their illicit behaviour.

The film is produced by Michael Brandner Sr, who in 2018 discovered a set of love letters from a priest to his younger brother, Scot. Scot committed suicide in the early 1990s at the age of 29.

After the first twenty minutes of talking head personal accounts of individuals who suffered molestation at the hands of clergymen. The film then shows the legal ramifications as attorneys of New Orleans brought claims against the church. The church faced so many clerical claims it had to file for federal bankruptcy protection in May 2020.

The case has cost the Archdiocese more than $40m in fees which remain unresolved. 

Tellingly, the film is left open-ended as this is an ongoing case with more people still to come forward. It allows you to see the story come to the viewer at this pace which is deliberate under the circumstances.

Heartfelt due to the personal nature of the Brander situation, this is a film that is a good companion to the Alex Gibney documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In the House of God (2012) which itself delved into the claims of abuse in the catholic church and touched upon in the Oscar winning film, Spotlight. 

This is a poignant documentary that is as much about healing as about the horrific acts put upon this vulnerable individuals.

God As My Witness has its World Premiere at the 33rd Raindance Film Festival on 26th June.

My thanks to Raindance for the screening link for review.

Parachute - Raindance Review

Debut directorial feature by Brittany Snow 

Brittany Snow, American female actress who starred in Pitch Perfect won the Audience Award at SXSW for her directorial debut, Parachute. An original film about addiction and self-abuse.

Riley (Courtney Eaton - Yellowjackets) is a well to do young woman, who we first meet when leaving rehab for her bulimia and addiction to Instagram. She does not like the woman she sees when comparing herself to every girl on social media, when to the naked eye she is a young and attractive woman. At a party shortly after her release, she meets Ethan (Thomas Mann) who is genuine and kind to her plight providing support for her.

And yet Riley's demons will not abate and she cannot stop looking at social media and comparing herself. She wards off good intentions of her remaining friends, yet finds a job in a murder-mystery dinner theatre where her aspirations of writing may come to fruition.

Riley has inherited her good fortune, the huge apartment and yet cannot shake off the entitled streak within her. She believes that she will be a great writer and will be beautiful to any bachelor, yet the film makes the comment that for all her attempts to avoid the lure of social media it is unavoidable and therefore her suffering will persist and dismissing Ethan's genuine feelings for someone she feels she is entitled to.

Halfway through the film you hope this is a nice love story between Riley and Ethan in the wonderful setting of New York, yet the demons return and we have to endure some hard watches for Eaton to depict some genuine dark moments. The script co-written by Snow with Becca Gleason about her own battles, is a personal project for her and she admits she knew how to shoot the film from storyboards to production. The interweaving of intimate shots of the two leads as their courtship grows is a nice touch, but by the end it becomes the focus of lost moments than forever love.

Helped by some great casting and support by known names, Joel McHale as Ethan's alcoholic father who he cannot help, Dave Bautista as Riley's new employer and Gina Rodriguez as Dr. Akerman, Riley's therapist.

Special mention also to the soundtrack and original score by Keegan DeWitt (check out his work on 2010 film Cold Weather) who weaves a great atmosphere here, along with Kristen Correll's cinematography.

Parachute was screened at the 2023 Raindance Film Festival. Hopefully it obtains a distribution deal in the near future.