Angels and Saints - Eros and Awe

In an American culture which has historically called the body or flesh “bad” and the spirit “good”, Angels and Saints are evolving human beings who have learned, often through suffering, to integrate Eros or “the Life Force” with wisdom or spiritual awareness. This eros-wisdom expresses itself in a personal sense of wholeness that includes both the acknowledgement of suffering and a deep appreciation of beauty within the sensate world. Angels and Saints are, then, the incarnation of this compassionate and deeply sensual Spirit -- our contemporary “messengers of awe.”

In the film Angels and Saints: Eros and Awesuch persons speak freely of the psychic pain and damage that institutional religions and American culture in general have inflicted upon themselves and upon the majority of Americans. However, whether identifying as heterosexual, nonbinary, gay, lesbian or “otherWise”, our subjects also share with us their creative, grounded lives, their wisdom and their many ways of breaking out of the constraining, stereotypic “boxes” in which society has placed most people. A recurring theme in this process of healing and integration is the role of the arts, including dance, music, poetry, and a love of nature – all of which find a richly expressive place in the film.