Screening on 26/10/18
UK 2017
Dir: Daniel Kokotajlo
Starring: Siobhan Finneran, Robert Emms, Sacha Parkinson, Molly Wright
Cert PG
95 mins
Apostasy, from first time British director Daniel Kokotajlo, follows a mother, Ivanna (Siobhan Finneran), and her two daughters, Alex (Molly Wright) and Luisa (Sacha Parkinson), all of whom are ‘sisters’ of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They follow the strict rules they must adhere to if they wish to be accepted into God’s ‘new system’ after the impending apocalypse. These guidelines include not being allowed a blood transfusion – an issue of purity. Unfortunately, the 18-year-old Alex suffers from anaemia and is in need of a transfusion, but sticks to her guns and ignores the pleas of her doctor.
On the other end of the spectrum is Luisa. Since starting college she has begun to discover more of the outside world and comes home with the shocking news that she is pregnant out of wedlock and, worse yet, the father is not a ‘brother’ of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The ‘elders’ swiftly ‘disfellowship’ her (i.e. force her to leave the Witnesses). We watch as the three women struggle with this situation and when an even greater tragedy strikes half-way through the film, their faith and love is tested even further.
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