Chosen (Custody of the Eyes)

Set within the Corpus Christi Monastery in Rockford, Illinois, Chosen (Custody of the Eyes) forms a portrait, through self-scrutinizing video recordings, of *Heather a former blogger and painter, confronting what she believes is her calling: becoming a cloistered contemplative nun in one of the strictest religious orders.

Since 2005, filmmaker Abbie Reese has worked with members of a cloistered contemplative community. Her book, Dedicated to God: An Oral History of Cloistered Nuns (Oxford University Press, 2014), tells the stories of these women’s lives. Chosen (Custody of the Eyes) is a collaborative film made using footage recorded by a young woman in the process of assimilating into the order.

Chosen (Custody of the Eyes), Thursday 22nd February, 5.30pm to 7.30pm

Chosen is a coming of age story about “Heather” the newest member of the 800-year-old religious order, tracing her interior journey as she becomes “Sister Amata”. This collaborative film grants viewers a unique encounter with an otherwise remote world.

Abbie Reese describes:

“Poor Clare Colettine nuns make vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and enclosure; they seek anonymity and observe monastic silence. A metal grille separates the nuns’ enclosure symbolically and literally from the outside world, and the nuns only leave in case of emergency. (Doctors pay house calls and the nuns vote by absentee ballot.) They are allowed four visits with family a year, always separated by the grille. Six years after entering the monastery, a nun can hug her family one last time when she makes final vows. The nuns find this description apt and amusing, but they make a distinction: the enclosure, rather than restricting them, offers freedom; the grille keeps the world out.”

We are delighted that Abbie Reese will attend the screening and host an informal Q&A session after the film.

UK Premiere of Chosen, part of Glasgow Film Festival 2018

Booking

This film screening is open to all and is free to attend. Please book below (you will be taken through the shopping cart but no charge will be made) or you can call us on 0141 550 2267. If you have booked a place and are no longer able to attend please let us know so that we can make your place available to someone else.