Teona Strugar Mitevska on God Exists Her Name is Petrunya

Today I'm Joined by the director of God Exists Her Name is Petrunya. The film is based on a true story. It takes place in Stip, a small town in Macedonia. Every 19th of January for the holiday of Epiphany, the throwing of the cross event takes place in almost all the Orthodox world of Eastern Europe. The local priest throws a wooden cross into the river and hundreds of men dive after it. Good fortune and prosperity are guaranteed to the man who retrieves it. This time, the young woman Petrunya dives into the water on a whim and manages to grab the cross before the others. Her competitors are furious, the local population as well as religious establishments are outraged as women aren’t allowed to take part in the ritual.  All hell breaks loose, but Petrunya holds her ground. The next day, in an interview to the local television station she encourages more women to jump for the cross in the future. She is labelled by the population as a "crazy/disturbed/troubled" young woman. God Exists Her Name is Petrunya will be in theatres and virtual cinemas on June 25th. If you happen to live in NY or LA try to see this in a theatre, obviously if you are comfortable, if you have your shot and haven’t been to the cinema in awhile I can’t think of a better way to jump back in. If not check out the show notes for a link to a full list if theatres http://www.1844entertainment.com/petrunya/ If you’d like to support the podcast, become a subscriber today and you'll get access to; all of our new episodes days before non-subscribers, archived episodes over 6 months old, and exclusive content just go to https://anchor.fm/followingfilms/subscribe Big thanks to Bookmans for sponsoring the show and to Fort Worth for letting us use the song at the end.