Experiencing Interruptions?

THRU THE NIGHT

A men's bible study group in Austin, Texas, uses Christianity to encourage vulnerable conversations about race, masculinity, and financial hardship, but struggles to keep its members in a noisy, disruptive, and faith-testing world.

  • Christian Meola
    Director
  • Christian Meola
    Producer
  • Cameron Moore
    Key Cast
    "Himself"
  • Michael Gizaw
    Key Cast
    "Himself"
  • Dolapo Ogunsola
    Key Cast
    "Himself"
  • Nathanael Tharps
    Key Cast
    "Himself"
  • Surree Davis
    Key Cast
    "Himself"
  • Patrick Nwabue
    Key Cast
    "Himself"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 8, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of Texas at Austin
Director Biography - Christian Meola

Christian Meola is a writer and director from Albany, New York. He works in many forms, ranging from narrative fiction to video art and theater. His films have premiered at Oak Cliff Film Festival, Indie Memphis, Sidewalk Film Festival, Adirondack Film Festival, Sick 'n' Wrong, Sydney Underground, Electric Forest Music Festival, and on PBS, NoBudge, and Beyond the Short. In 2020, he won Sick n' Wrong's "You're Special" award. Christian is a programmer for Sun Pass Film Festival in Miami, FL, and the founder of Midnight Movie, a screening series dedicated to trash, underground, and misunderstood films. He also DJs sometimes.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

THRU THE NIGHT began as a broad investigation into how faith manifests in our country's young Christians. Has growing up in the 21st century changed the way Christian ideologies manifest in a generation considered more open-minded than previous Christians, or do their views still reflect traditional beliefs?

This was the question I wanted to explore when I decided to make a documentary about college-age, contemporary Christians. However, when I pitched the project to some fellow students at UT Austin, I was met with hesitancy and even discouragement:

"I already know what Christians think. Why would I want to sit through a film about them?"

I was raised in the Catholic Church, so I didn't blame them. I'm also subjected to the same church groups and politicians promoting hateful beliefs and taking harmful political action here in Texas. However, this feedback pushed me towards a subject with nuanced, complicated beliefs that might challenge the way Christianity is presented and portrayed in the media.

That's how I found HAVEN MEN, an all-black male bible group that encourages men to speak vulnerably about how faith manifests in their lives. Six weeks and 12 hours of footage later, these men taught me that faith is far from an old cultural convention in America; it's important and relevant for dealing with trauma, the mysteries of the world, and uncertain futures but also a significant cultural and community-building experience.

Cameron, Michael, and the other members fall far outside stereotypes associated with Christians in today's media and have a unique perspective to share on the role faith plays in dealing with race, class, and being first-generation college students.

Even with the specificity of the group's identity as young black American men, they reveal a universal truth: the desire we all have to understand a world that constantly challenges who we are and why we're here.