Thame Cinema – APOSTASY

THIS Saturday,  October 27, Thame Cinema For All will be screening  APOSTASY, Daniel Kokotajlo’s debut feature,  inspired by his own experience of being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Set in contemporary Manchester, it is a story of three women – single mother Ivanna and daughters Luisa and Alex – who each have to navigate conflict between their lives, their choices, their bodies, and the dogma of their Elders. Alex and Luisa are devoted Witnesses, taking to the streets to spread the word and even going so far as to learn Urdu in order to extend their mission to Muslim communities. But Luisa is mixing with secular ‘outsiders’ at her local college, learning art, skipping meetings to attend lectures. And when she becomes pregnant, she is cut off not only from the faith community, but also from her own family who are instructed that they sever contact with her.

Meanwhile Alex is dealing with her own issues. She has anaemia, which was treated when she was a baby with a life-saving blood transfusion, incurring the wrath of the Elders (for whom blood products are a crime against God), and leaving her feeling tainted. She is navigating an awkward courtship with a fellow Witness, Steven. And Ivanna has issues of her own, beautifully played by the excellent Finneran as an unsympathetic character, yielding to the instructions of the faith without any apparent feeling or resistance, living a life of spiritual and emotional austerity. The director’s first-hand experience of this world, its punitive rule over individual lives, and the ease with which the faithful submit to that rule – often at the expense of their own moral compass – gives this film real authenticity and suppressed rage. A powerful, daring and devastating film, and hailed as one of the best British films of the year.

UK 2018, 93 minutes, PG certificate
Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo, Starring Siobhan Finneran, Sacha Parkinson, Molly Wright, Robert Emms, Steve Evets, James Quinn

View the trailer HERE

Other films into January:-
Sunday November 4: The Rider View trailer here
Sunday November 11: The Guardians View trailer here
Sunday December 23: The Producers View trailer here
Saturday December 29: Mamma Mia 2 View trailer here
Saturday January 5: The Children Act View trailer here
Sunday January 13: Wajib View trailer here
Saturday January 19: Peterloo View trailer here