A film by Laetitia Jacquart & Corinne Sullivan

Produced by Maéva Barelli and Rebecca Houzel (Petit à Petit production)

Documentary / 2025 / France / in post-production

Language: English

Subtitles: English

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COMING SOON

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Synopsis

Unhoused in San Francisco, Dawn and Tony find solace with Terry and Harry who facilitate support groups at Glide Church. They challenge them to overcome the hurdles of their situations and stand up for their community. The film weaves together their intimate stories of resilience and their fight to reclaim their place in society.

Logline

Between the churches and the streets, Dawn, Tony, Miss Terry and Reverend Harry fight to forge their place in an American Society ravaged by inequalities.

As a filmmaker, Corinne Sullivan’s journey began in the field of anthropology. She loved the fieldwork and research aspects of anthropology, but she yearned for a creative means of expression that would allow me to convey a more personal point of view. This led her to filmmaking and to making her first film “Mutso, the Hinterland, » a film about how myths shape real life and are reappropriated in stories and beliefs. Laetitia, her co-director started her filmmaking journey with « L’Aire, » where she delved into a documentary practice rooted in direct cinéma. She spent a long immersion period in a Roma camp, capturing the singularity of women’s lives living on the margins of a small French town. Laetitia’s work has always been influenced by the question of faith, and she often focuses on social movements and political activism, especially within marginalized communities and their involvement with churches. Both Franco-American, we met during film school in 2007 and reconnected in San Francisco several years later. Our interests converged and led us to collaborate on « Fire Within. » This project combines our complementary perspectives and sensibilities, blending Corinne’s anthropological background with Laetitia’s immersive documentary style.

« Fire Within » is a long-term project that required more than a year of immersive fieldwork. We came into Glide as agnostic filmmakers interested in understanding how religious life and street life intertwine. We spent significant time developing trusting relationships and creative collaborations with each of our protagonists without camera. This patient approach allowed us to gain deep access to their lives and perceptions of the world. It was crucial for us to wait until the characters were ready to accept the camera and fully participate in the film. This method facilitated an intimate and authentic portrayal of their stories. What we found so compelling was their personal ways to embrace and reinterpret religion and to live their faith. These were intimately related to their life journeys and their daily struggles. In the film, we express the tension between religion and personal belief, individual and collective through speech and body language. During Sunday’s gospels, we film Tony’s face as it transforms and heals. In the edit, the gospel song pours into the next street scene. Just like our previous films, this one required extended development and production time. One of the particular challenges faced during editing has been to weave individual stories into a cohesive narrative that echoed a common fight for survival. »

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