Talking to God

After 12 nights of insomnia and feeling like her life is unraveling, Rebecca travels to the Ukraine in a desperate attempt to find a magic cure. There she finally sleeps and discovers the meaning of life through an outrageous cast of characters including a man who is truly happy despite having nothing.

  • Maya Batash
    Director
    Out of the Fog
  • Maya Batash
    Writer
    Out of the Fog
  • Maya Batash
    Producer
  • Jonathan Frederico
    Producer
  • Kim Jackson
    Producer
  • Zebedee Row
    Key Cast
    "the Fixer"
  • Sean Haberle
    Key Cast
    "The King"
  • Maya Batash
    Key Cast
    "Rebecca"
  • Andrew Kaempfer
    Key Cast
    "Dr. N"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    comedy
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 1, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Ukraine, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Red dragon
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39 scope
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Florida Comedy Film Festival
    Florida
    United States
    February 9, 2020
    Best Director, Feature Film--Maya Batash
  • Glorious Movie Awards

    Best Feature Film
  • Australian Inspirational Film Festival

    Official Selection
  • Vegas Cinefest International Film Festival

    Official Selection
  • Kansas City FilmFest International

    Official Selection
Director - Maya Batash
Director Statement

About 8 years ago I went to the Ukraine, to a small town barely on the map, to experience a miracle. I was experiencing a challenge in my life. The only thing that helped me was a book I read together with a friend. The book’s main message was, “it’s all from God, it’s all for the best, accept everything with love.” It was a tough pill to swallow, but somehow reading the book and implementing its wisdom was the only thing that got me out of my own personal hole.
Later, another friend invited me to go to Uman in the Ukraine to visit the grave site of a Jewish mystic from the 1700’s whose ideas inspired the book I had been reading. At first, I thought she was crazy, but three months later I found myself exactly there, in Uman, with a group of women I had almost nothing in common with and on my way to the gravesite. I felt very little while I was in Uman, other than uncomfortable, since our lodgings were not exactly the Ritz Carlton.
When I returned, I felt different in a way I couldn’t explain, and when the opportunity arose to return a second time, I jumped at it. While I was there, the idea of making a film about this experience came to me and I had to do it. I’d never been drawn to making films about spirituality, but somehow it didn’t matter.
I wanted to make a funny and fantastical film about the experience I had and all I learned along the way. Even though Talking to God is a fictional story about a filmmaker with “troubles” who travels and dreams about a fixer and a king and a spiritual surgeon; it’s really a film about how to be happy; something I desperately wanted to learn how to do.