Erik Praus

In its portraits of three monks, Erik Praus’s documentary captures the inimitable spiritual ambiance and mysticism of Pochayiv Lavra, an Eastern Orthodox monastery on a hill above the town of Pochayiv in western Ukraine’s Ternopil Oblast. Fathers Gabriel, Vicilentius and Nazarij have left their past traumas behind, finding peace, balance and their lives’ meaning at the monastery. Their stories are allegories of spiritualization and purification from human passions against the backdrop of the turbulent Ukrainian reality. Motivated by material need and spiritual desperation, the faithful flock to this place of pilgrimage in search of new strength and forgiveness. The film respectfully observes the monks’ everyday lives, while also noticing the opulent splendour of their surroundings. The road to faith is not a privilege of the chosen few; it is open to all who hear its “calling”.

The story of one Horehronie village through the fates of its inhabitants is a reflection of the social and economic reality of contemporary Slovakia and at the same time a search for a sense of being or a relationship with its country, its roots. Maintaining the traditions of folk culture and folklore is not just a romantic look into the village society. The appeal of social reality is moving elements of the traditional way of life closer and closer to societal issues. Praus's film offers an essay about man who is constantly struggling for his own sense of being.