HOLY FATHER

Documentary filmmaker Andrei and his girlfriend Paula learn that they've got a baby on the way. The initial joy the young millennial couple feels quickly gives way to gnawing doubt: neither of the two has had good parental role models in their lives. When Paula goes to tell her emotionally cold mother the good news on the phone, the latter can't manage to summon any happiness for her daughter and abruptly ends the conversation. Things are arguably even worse in Andrei's case: he grew up without a father – his dad left the family when Andrei was still a little child, to enter the famous Mount Athos monastery. Now seriously wondering whether he has what it takes to be a decent dad himself, the director resolves to re-examine his family history. He travels to Athos and visits his father, the Greek Orthodox monk, "at work". In conversations and the regimented everyday life of the monastery, Andrei discovers an unexpected new perspective on his own past, which is also indirectly linked to Romania's turbulent history. HOLY FATHER is a documentary film that offers intimate glimpses into the director's own family life – often so intimate that it hurts.