On Easter Sunday, most PBS stations, as well as WORLD channels, will debut the inspirational documentary, Theirs is the Kingdom, a quiet, beautiful story of art overlapping with humanity. This movie explores homelessness, addiction, and mental illness.
The film follows the rare creation of a contemporary fresco mural inside the sanctuary of a small church in Asheville, NC. Christopher Holt was asked to paint a fresco mural, but no one expected his painting to have such a reaction. The stunning fresco is not of the rich and powerful, but of people battling homelessness, addiction, and mental illness.
The viewer witnesses the difficulties of this ancient artistic technique while also meeting an ensemble cast of complex characters. Frescos are incredibly rare in the US due to the incredible challenge to paint in this method. Instead of immortalizing saints, heroes, and aristocracy, this fresco shares the faces of local people who are homeless, marginalized, and/or mentally ill.
We are thrilled to present Theirs Is The Kingdom with WORLD and PBS channels around the country, that will allow all people to experience the film for free,” says the film’s director Chris Zaluski. “This story is about everyone, whatever someone might be battling, having space to be who they are – and celebrated for it. We hope the film, like the fresco itself, is able to inspire hope in whomever watches it.
From the Sistine Chapel to da Vinci’s The Last Supper, fresco paintings are one of the oldest and most durable forms of artwork known to man. As natural pigment is blended with wet plaster, the painting literally turns to stone and the stories told in fresco paintings are preserved for centuries. But what do those preserved stories say about a society’s beliefs and priorities?
Cathleen Falsani, journalist and author of Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace, writes:
Some art you cannot unsee because it changes you indelibly, heart, mind, and soul. With an inestimably gentle power and uncommon tenderness, Theirs is the Kingdom will not allow the audience to look away from people whose eyes all too often we refuse to meet on the street.The poor, the un-housed, those struggling with addiction or mental and physical illness, the downtrodden, displaced, and discarded—they are the very bearers of God’s image and likeness, celebrated in a divine reality where the last shall be first. Anyone who sees the film or the fresco will leave transformed.
Zaluski shared the experience of creating this movie:
When I started filming this project in February 2018, I didn’t realize how much it would become a central part of my life over the next 3 years. In many ways, I think that’s indicative to the experience many have when they first come into contact with Haywood Street Congregation. The unassuming brick building sits on the outskirts of Downtown Asheville, and I – like many – had passed by the church hundreds of times without ever stopping. But when I first stepped inside Haywood, the building seemed to radiate with an empathy and mysticism that shook me to my core.
In the years since, I’ve learned so much from listening to folks like Brian, Jeanette, Dave, Blue, and others that it’s changed my mindset and approach to filmmaking, community, and – in many ways – religion.
Ultimately, this film is about empathy, which seems to be lacking in so much of our daily interactions. I hope viewers can appreciate the very human stories in this film and take a moment to recognize those around them who are struggling in ways large and small.
Furthermore, in these uncertain times of the COVID pandemic when so many people have been unknowingly thrust into poverty, I hope the deeper themes of this film can resonate on a wider scale. Multiple people in this film show that so many of us are “only a paycheck away” from living on the streets. Blending those stories with the beauty and power of a traditional fresco mural can urge viewers to re-examine their own judgments and beliefs, while hopefully changing our response to the issues of poverty that are ailing us as a society.
Theirs is the Kingdom is also streaming free of charge through May 1st, on the PBS platform here.
1 thought on “Watch ‘Theirs Is The Kingdom’ on Easter”
Yet more evidence that the worship of the poor has replaced the worship of God in our churches. And by the way, the “they” in “theirs is the kingdom” are Christians and no one else.