Electronic Press Kit
Press Contact
For press inquiries or permission to use any of the still images, please contact Ann Hirou:
Ahirou@nonnobis.com
Logline
A diverse group of Christians explores almost 20 centuries of church art and architecture on a 4000-mile pilgrimage that starts in Jerusalem and takes them throughout Europe, leaving them both exhilarated and exhausted.
SYNOPSIS
“Heading Home: A 21st Century Pilgrimage” chronicles the more than four-thousand-mile pilgrimage of a small band of American Christians from all walks of life. Led by philanthropist and author Roberta Ahmanson, the two-week journey covers almost 2000 years of church art and architecture.
The film invites viewers to join these pilgrims as they experience many of the world’s most magnificent churches and cathedrals, starting at the 4th Century Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, then on to Rome, Pisa, Florence, Bologna, Venice, Ravenna, Torcello, and Aachen before winding up this incredible adventure at the 12th Century Temple Church in London.
Along the way, these pilgrims learn how artists, architects and theologians worked in parallel for many centuries – from Saint Augustine’s vision of a New Jerusalem to Dante’s admonitions about the Last Judgment.
As Ben Quash of London’s National Gallery of Art explains in the film, “You can look at these works and buildings as part of the story of art but they’re also part of the story of faith and if you’re not interested in that story, you’re only getting part of the picture. You don’t have to be a person of faith to think about how they’re part of the story of faith. You just to have enough of an imagination to feeling your way into why these things mattered.”
Director’s Statement
Dietrich Von Hildebrand described how Christians often dismiss beauty as a distraction from the more important work of Christianity. But he also reminds us that this utilitarianism is not found in God’s creation, pointing out that the beauty in nature is not practical but lavish and abundant. I kept thinking about this extravagance as we filmed the opulent mosaics at the Basilica of San Vicente in Ravenna and several other locations.
Our hope is that this film will introduce US Christians to the rich artistic heritage that so many of us didn’t grow up with and help them to grasp why beauty matters to God and should to us as well.
We have attempted to create a rich visual experience for viewers who weren’t on this extraordinary pilgrimage, so they too can experience some of the world’s most spectacular churches and basilicas and perhaps plan their own pilgrimage.
Jody Hassett Sanchez
Film Director
BIOGRAPHIES
Jody Hassett Sanchez
Film Director
Jody Hassett Sanchez’s focus is the intersection/collision of faith and culture. Her documentary work includes More Art Upstairs (HotDocs Film Festival, Amazon Prime) and SOLD: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade (American Public Television, American Film Showcase). She covered religion, art and education for ABC’s World News Tonight and Nightline and was senior producer of CNN’s Cold War Postscript and created a weekly art program on CNN International.
Jody is founder and director of the Africa Film Project, a documentary boot camp that equips young African storytellers with the technical resources and editorial skills to create short films about their own communities.
Joshua Woltermann
Editor
Joshua Woltermann has produced several films with Ric Burns including Enquiring Minds and served as producer and editor on Welcome to Leith (Sundance Film Festival, PBS’s Independent Lens). Joshua has worked with some of the film industry’s most respected contributors including Bill Moyers and Errol Morris. Currently, he is directing the feature documentary Burnt Over.
Nelson Walker III
Director of Photography
Nelson Walker III’s cinematography has appeared in many highly lauded projects including: Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV (Sundance Film Festival), The Reverend (DocNYC Audience Award), Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are) (Paramount+), The Fight (Sundance Film Festival), Chef Flynn (Sundance Film Festival), and Making a Murderer (Netflix). Nelson also serves as Chairman of the board of Maysles Documentary Center, a non-profit cinema and education hub based in Harlem that uses non-fiction film to promote community, education, and social justice.
About Roberta Green Ahmanson
Roberta is a writer, art collector, and philanthropist. She received her M.A. in English from the University of Michigan and studied journalism at the University of Missouri. She and her husband Howard have sponsored numerous exhibitions, including several at the National Gallery, London: Caravaggio: The Final Years; The Sacred Made Real; and Saint Francis of Assisi. She served as chair of the board of the Museum of Biblical Art in New York and has been a member of the Collectors Committee of the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.
She and Howard sponsored the Bridge Projects Gallery in Los Angeles, focusing on the role of religion in contemporary art, as well as the project Visual Commentary on Scripture, based at King’s College London. Ahmanson began her career as a religion reporter for the Orange County Register and before that the San Bernardino Sun. Her book Heading Home (forthcoming) is the culmination of three decades of travel and study on the impact of the idea of the New Jerusalem on our world.
Suggested Interview Questions:
Pilgrimage can mean so many different things, why did you decide to frame this project as a pilgrimage?
Why start the trip in Israel, which you couldn’t do today?
Talk a bit more about this notion of bringing holy dirt from Jerusalem, which was mentioned several times in the film.
There was so much beautiful art inside the churches you visited, but you also wanted people to pay attention to the structures themselves (8 sided/simple exteriors/oculus/domes), why?
What would you like viewers to come away with after seeing this film?
Can we talk more about why the visual arts aren’t a part of so many Christian churches in the US?
How did we get from the Pieta to Precious Moments?
Film Images
Credit for any photo used should read:
Heading Home: A 21st Century Pilgrimage
Photo by Kieran Dodds
Reviews
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Adam Scott
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Nicole Davies
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Arthur Young
Featured Locations
The Pantheon
Santa Prassede Basilica
San Gregorio Magno al Celio Church
Santo Sepolcro Church
Camposanto
San Miniato Al Monte Basilica
Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral
Rucellai Chapel
Santo Stefano Church
San Vitale Basilica
Sant’ Appollinare Nuovo Basilica
Scrovegni Chapel
San Marco Basilica
Aachen Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral
Saint Sepulchre Chapel
Temple Church