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Lovers of the Night

Lovers of the Night

Seven elderly monks in a small Cistercian monastery in Ireland strive to keep their spiritual life and fragile community going. With shaky voices – but deeply committed – they gather in church seven times a day to pray.

A passionate rugby fan with a great devotional heart, 88-year-old Alberic stands at the centre of the film, weaving together the monks' individual stories and revealing the vulnerability of old age. While Alberic, who is slowly losing his eyesight, tries to decipher texts from the Christian mystics and the rugby news in the papers, Brother Francis trains on an old treadmill and Father Ambrose attempts to catch a runaway calf.

With moving honesty and humour, the monks share significant experiences and often surprising insights into their life journeys. An attempt to capture the heart of a unique place before it vanishes, and to portray the yearning of the human spirit for the infinite in the transience of a finite world.

Directed by Anne Frances Ewert - 56min - 2018 - Ireland/Germany

"While striking landscape shots of the monks’ serene farm pastures and home visually tie body and mind to land, this connection is inevitably fleeting, as the men profess uncertainty of the building’s future without new young monks to keep it going. Regardless, for Alberic and company, the beauty remains in the simple, daily devotion to God and each other. Lovingly and delicately, filmmaker Anna Frances Ewert captures the ebullient side of a world so often portrayed with solemnity." - Full Frame Fest

"supremely confident and achingly compassionate filmmaking" Cinema Faith

Lovers of the Night
  • Lovers of the Night

    Dir. Anna Frances Ewert - 2018 - Ireland/Germany

    Seven elderly monks in a small Cistercian monastery in Ireland strive to keep their spiritual life and fragile community going. With shaky voices – but deeply committed – they gather in church seven times a day to pray.

    A passionate rugby fan wit...

Extras

  • Lovers of the Night - Trailer

    Dir. Anna Frances Ewert - 57min - 2018 - Ireland/Germany

    Seven monks, holding on faithfully to their fragile monastery, confide their most tender secrets.