Raw Faith Movie

A personal project I’m proud of is the documentary Raw Faith, an award winning film that follows a successful Portland Unitarian minister who decides to leave her church and pursue a new path late in life. (Credits list my previous married name Ashley MacEachern.)

When Marilyn, the main subject/character, told my husband and I she was going to retire but was afraid of losing her voice when she no longer had a pulpit, I suggested we document her journey on film. I instinctively felt that her story would be one that many could relate to, not as a minister, but as a human being facing great change. That she was a minister was compelling because when ministers retire, it’s a common practice that they are not allowed to go to the church for two years in an effort for the congregation and the retiring minister to move forward. Marilyn’s entire social fabric was the church, and retiring meant she would be facing isolation and loneliness. Yet she also felt compelled that it was time. How many of us face changes in our lives that upend everything and force us to redefine ourselves? She agreed to be filmed, and share her “dark night of the soul” with us, and we embarked on a four year journey of documentary film making with a team of amazing individuals.

I oversaw creative direction and communications. My ex-husband oversaw the business side of things. Peter Wiedensmith shot, directed, and edited the movie; he is an incredibly talented story teller and kind human and his amazing team at Joint Editorial was instrumental in bringing the film to life. Huge thanks also goes to everyone at Wieden+Kennedy who created our first website pro bono and made it possible for Peter and Joint to work on this project alongside all the other work on their very full plates (Joint is a subsidiary of W+K). There were many other key contributors as well, in particular Sheryl Crow wrote and performed an original song which inspired our score, written and produced by composer Nate Morgan.

The film debuted at the Nashville Film Festival where it won the Nashville Public Television 2010 Human Spirit Award. It went on to win the Best Feature Award at the 3rd Annual 2010 Columbia Gorge International Film Festival, and was named one of the Most Spiritually Literate films of 2011 by Spirituality & Practice. The film was subsequently released in 2011 by Alive Mind Cinema and played in New York theaters in June of that year. The Village Voice said it was “empathetic, clear sighted… a therapeutic act of faith in oneself, God, and love.”

At times Raw Faith has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey “O” network and via streaming services. It was such an honor to help tell this story that inspired so many.

Read New York Times Review | Purchase a DVD. Watch the trailer: