Norman Frederick Jewison was a Canadian filmmaker. He was known for directing films which addressed topical social and political issues, often making controversial or complicated subjects accessible to mainstream audiences. Among numerous other accolades, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times in three separate decades, for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and Moonstruck (1987). He was nominated for an additional four Oscars, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, and won a BAFTA Award. He received the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999.
Anne Bancroft was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. She is one of only 24 thespians to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.
Agnes of God is a 1979 play by American playwright John Pielmeier which tells the story of a novice nun who gives birth but does not believe she has. The child is found dead and a psychiatrist and the mother superior of the convent clash during the resulting investigation. The title is a pun on the Latin phrase Agnus Dei.
The Monk: A Romance is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis, published in 1796. A quickly written book from early in Lewis's career, it was published before he turned twenty. It is a prime example of the type of Gothic that specialises in the aspect of horror. Its convoluted and scandalous plot has made it one of the most important Gothic novels of its time, often imitated and adapted for the stage and the screen.
Meg Tilly is a Canadian-American actress and writer.
Quiet as a Nun is a thriller novel, written by Antonia Fraser. First published in 1977, it features Fraser's sleuthing heroine Jemima Shore as she revisits the convent school where she was educated following the mysterious death of one of the nuns. A six-part television dramatisation of the book was part of ITV's anthology series Armchair Thriller in 1978.
The Sands of Time is a 1988 action novel by author Sidney Sheldon. The novel follows the adventures of four women who are forced to leave their Spanish convent for the outside world of threat, violence and passions; and two men who are pitted against each other in a fight to the death.
Sven Vilhem Nykvist was a Swedish cinematographer and filmmaker. His work is generally noted for its naturalism and simplicity. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest cinematographers of all time. He is best known for his collaboration with director Ingmar Bergman. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Cries and Whispers (1972) and Fanny and Alexander (1982). Nykvist also worked with Bergman on The Virgin Spring (1960), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1963), Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1973), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), Face to Face (1978), and Autumn Sonata (1978).
Clara Allegra Byron was the illegitimate daughter of the poet George Gordon, Lord Byron, and Claire Clairmont.
Nunsense (1985) is a musical comedy with a book, music, and lyrics by Dan Goggin. Originating as a line of greeting cards, Goggin expanded the concept into a cabaret show that ran for 38 weeks, and eventually into a full-length musical. The original Off-Broadway production opened December 12, 1985, running for 3,672 performances and becoming the second-longest-running Off-Broadway show in history. The show has since been adapted for television, starring Rue McClanahan, and has spawned six sequels and three spin-offs.
Erentrude was a saint and abbess, born during the end of the 7th century, probably in present-day Germany or Austria. She was born into a Franconian-Merovingian royal house, and was the niece of Rupert of Salzburg. She left her home country to assist Rupert in establishing religious communities in Salzburg; in about 700, he built a convent, Nonnberg Abbey, and installed her as its first abbess. She and the nuns at Nonnberg served the poor, needy, and ill, striking a balance between living as cloistered nuns and engaging in charitable works. Erentrude died on 30 June 718. Her fame for healing miracles and intercession grew after her death, and many legends have arisen throughout the centuries since her death. In 2006, Erentrude's image appeared on the Austrian Nonnberg Abbey commemorative coin. Her feast day is celebrated on 30 June.
Sister Act is a musical based on the hit 1992 film of the same name with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, book by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner, and additional material by Douglas Carter Beane. After having a regional premiere in 2006 in Pasadena, California, the original West End production opened on June 2, 2009, at the London Palladium, starring Patina Miller and produced by Stage Entertainment and Whoopi Goldberg. Subsequent productions have been seen on Broadway and in many countries around the world.
Her Life's Story is a 1914 American silent supernatural drama film directed by Joe De Grasse and featuring Lon Chaney and Pauline Bush. It was written by James Dayton, based on a poem called "The Cross" by Miriam Bade Rasmus. The film is now considered to be lost.
Kanamarayathu is a 1984 Malayalam film written by Padmarajan and directed by I. V. Sasi. It stars Mammootty, Shobhana, Rahman, Lalu Alex, and Seema. The story was an adaptation of the 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster. This film won Kerala State Film Awards for the Best Story (Padmarajan), Best Music Director (Shyam), and Best Female Singer.
Philomena is a 2013 drama film directed by Stephen Frears, based on the 2009 book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by journalist Martin Sixsmith. The film stars Judi Dench as Philomena Lee, an elderly woman who has been searching for her son for 50 years, and Sixsmith's efforts to help her find him.
I, the Worst of All is an Argentine film directed by María Luisa Bemberg. The film was released in 1990 and is a biopic on the life of Juana Inés de la Cruz. It was based on Octavio Paz's Sor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith. The film premiered at the 47th Venice International Film Festival where it received the OCIC Award - Honorable Mention. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 63rd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
The Innocents, also known as Agnus Dei, is a 2016 drama film directed by Anne Fontaine, which features Lou de Laâge, Agata Kulesza, Agata Buzek and Vincent Macaigne in its cast. The script is by Sabrina B. Karine, Pascal Bonitzer, Anne Fontaine and Alice Vial, after an original idea by Philippe Maynial. Maynial took inspiration from the experiences of his aunt, Madeleine Pauliac, a French Red Cross doctor who worked in Poland after World War II.
Novitiate is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by Maggie Betts in her feature directorial debut. Starring Margaret Qualley, Melissa Leo, Morgan Saylor, Dianna Agron, Julianne Nicholson, Liana Liberato, Denis O'Hare, and Maddie Hasson, the film follows a young woman (Qualley) who starts to question her faith as she trains to become a nun.
St. Agatha is a 2018 American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and starring Sabrina Kern and Carolyn Hennesy. It premiered at the Overlook Film Festival on April 20, 2018.
Future Home of the Living God is a dystopian novel and work of speculative fiction by Louise Erdrich first published on November 14, 2017, by HarperCollins. The novel follows 26-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, an Ojibwe woman raised by white parents, who visits her birth mother's reservation just as the United States becomes increasingly totalitarian following a reversal of evolution.
