New Film ‘God’s House’ Screened Saturday at Cemetery Chapel

This Saturday afternoon a new documentary that may be on its way to the Sundance Film Festival will be screened in the Chapel at Congressional Cemetery. The film, God’s House,  tells the little-known story of Muslim hospitality in Albania that saved the lives of thousands of Jews during World War II, and a present-day Muslim shopkeeper’s efforts to fulfill a promise made by his father to a Jewish family many years before his birth. You can see the trailer here.

Christine Romero is the film’s editor, as well as a popular local yoga instructor and frequent dogwalker at the Cemetery. She thinks the release of God’s House comes at a pivotal time. “One can scarcely read the paper or turn on the radio or TV without hearing the word ‘Muslim’ paired with ‘terrorist,‘ she said. “This film depicts Muslims in a way little seen since September 11th: as good people. Just as important, in a time when lran’s President Ahmadinejad is denying the Holocaust; when we are drawing ever closer to a time when there will be no living witnesses to the Holocaust; to have a film where Muslims themselves speak of rescuing Jews is very important for informing that history.” She added the Albanian people, who suffered greatly under communism after WWII, deserve recognition for their courage and honor.

The film, endorsed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Special Middle Eastern Envoy George J. Mitchell, President Jimmy Carter and Elie Wiesel, is the product of seven years of research and three years of production, culminating in a feature length film that tells a side of the war that is known by few. The film’s creators are waiting to hear if the film has been accepted to Sundance; they also hope to secure distribution with HBO or PBS, and attend screenings at the film festivals in Belin, Toronto and Tribeca in New York City. The team is also hard at work raising funds to finish the film and develop the educational materials they hope will promote the messages of God’s House. The event Satruday, hosted by Romero and Patrick Crowley, begins at 5 p.m. and includes a q&a session the producers; a $100 donation per family is requested.

Romero, who retired from filmmaking after a 30+ year carer, is the director of St. Mark’s Yoga Center. When an old friend and colleague, Jason Williams, one of the film’s executive director, called asking for her help with the project, Romero saw the opportunity to live out the spirit of her yoga teachings. “Because of [the film’s] subject, and the link to Swami Satchidananda’s ‘Truth is One, Paths are Many’ teachings, I felt it was the perfect fit.”

In mid-October Romero organized screening of God’s House that sold out The Corner Store. Patrick Crowley, chairman of the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery, left the event moved and intent on helping share the powerful story, and he invited Romero to host a fundraiser for the project and its complementary educational initiative at the Cemetery.  He and Romero have rented the Chapel for Saturday’s event.

“When I went to the screening (…), I expected a variation on The Diary of Anne Frank, but I saw a far more complex story, several interwoven stories really,” said Crowley. “I was especially struck by the fact that the Albanian Muslim family welcomed these complete strangers into their home; moreover, these strangers were from a different nation, different social class, different cultural heritage, and different religion.”

“In taking them in, they risked their own lives,” he continued. “The bravery and generosity of that act is stunning. As the film ended I thought, ‘this is a story that needs to be seen by many people in many places.’”

For more information about the event or the film, email vcromero [at] mac.com. RSVPs are requested for the event.