Sister Aimee, co-written and co-directed by alumni Marie Schlingmann ’16 and Samantha Buck ’16 had its theatrical debut at the Village East Cinema in New York and at the Laemmle Glendale in Los Angeles last week before its digital release on October 1st. Alumnus Hugo Kenzo ’14 was the First Assistant Director on the project.
The film is set in 1926 when America's most famous evangelist is a woman. And she's looking for a way out. Fed up with her own success, she gets swept up in her lover's daydreams about Mexico and finds herself.
Indiewire editor Kate Ebland said: “Sister Aimee merrily serves up an inspirational, oddly amusing story with a compelling relationship at its center.” The film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and also played at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival. The cast includes Anna Margaret Hollyman, Michael Mosley, Andrea Suarez Paz and Julie White.
Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann are a married writing and directing duo. Their shorts have played at the Telluride Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, and others. Buck directed the Peabody Award–winning documentary Best Kept Secret. She received grants from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund and The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. Schilingmann is from Berlin and was a recipient of the David Jones Memorial Award and ASCAP Scoring Fellowship. Together, they co-wrote and co-directed Sister Aimee and are in development on their second feature, The Big D.