Stay for an expert panel immediately following the 2:20pm screening on Sunday, April 16th at The Main Cinema. The 30-minute discussion will explore themes and topics raised in the film.
• Rev. Julie Zelle, Moderator, former United board member and pastoral care provider
• Walter T. Byrd, Filmmaker and former COVID ICU patient at University of Minnesota Medical Center
• Rev. Katie Ernst, CPE Resident at Methodist Hospital, Minneapolis
• Rev. Stacey Jutila, Director of Chaplaincy Services and CPE Supervisor at Essentia Health-East, Duluth, MN
• Rev. Dr. Jessica Chapman Lape, Assistant Professor and Interreligious Chaplaincy Program Director at United
This panel discussion was curated by Rev. Julie Zelle, former United board member and Pastoral Care provider, and Rev. Dr. Cindi Beth Johnson, Vice President for Advancement and Professor in the Practice of Theology and the Arts at United.
About the film
Luke Lorentzen’s poignant film follows Mati Engel, finishing her year-long residency as a chaplain during the deadliest years of the pandemic, as she struggles to maintain her own equilibrium in the face of overwhelming suffering.
Mati is completing a year-long residency at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital, as she learns to provide spiritual care to people confronting profound life changes. Through Mati’s experiences with her patients, her struggle with professional burnout, and her own spiritual questioning, we gain new perspectives on how meaningful connection can be and how painful its absence is. As Mati and her patients take stock of their lives and experiences, space opens up to reflect on our own. Following his acclaimed 2019 film Midnight Family, director Lorentzen digs into Mati’s spiritual work as an entry point to explore how we seek meaning in suffering, uncertainty, and grief.
Director Biography
Luke Lorentzen was born in Connecticut and is an award–winning documentary filmmaker and a graduate of Stanford University's department of Art and Art History. He is the director of New York Cuts (2015), and Midnight Family (2019), which was shortlisted for the Academy Award and screened at MSPIFF.