“Religion Stories” to Premiere in Lisbon, Spotlighting Global Dialogue on Faith and Identity

On December 10, 2025, Religion Stories will make its world premiere in Lisbon, Portugal, at KAICIID’s 10th Anniversary celebration. Produced by So Fare Films, this six-part docuseries invites audiences into intimate, intergenerational conversations about faith, doubt, and the ways belief shapes daily life. Each episode pairs a religious expert with college-aged storytellers who reflect on their own spiritual or philosophical identities, creating space for listening across difference and exploring what it means to live a meaningful life.

The featured traditions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Atheism/Agnosticism—are presented not as abstract systems of thought, but as vibrant, lived realities. Through guided dialogue, the series unpacks how individuals inherit, wrestle with, and reimagine the worldviews that inform their values, practices, and sense of belonging.

Directed by filmmaker and sociologist Dr. Jenn Lindsay, Religion Stories was developed in collaboration with the Emerging Creators Network, So Fare Films’ international internship program. The project features six religion experts, 21 young storytellers, and a global production team of more than 40 emerging media professionals from over a dozen countries. The production includes contributors in editing, cinematography, marketing, design, and postproduction—nearly all under age 30—who brought their full creative selves to the challenge of visualizing belief.

“Making Religion Stories wasn’t just about filming other people’s faith journeys—it became one of our own,” says Lindsay. “Each member of the team brought their worldview, their questions, and their creative fingerprints to the screen.”

The result is a series rooted in storytelling, not sermonizing—one that treats diversity not as a problem to be solved, but as an opportunity for connection.

Meet the Experts of Religion Stories

Each episode of Religion Stories centers a dialogue between a seasoned religion educator and young adults navigating their own beliefs. The experts offer both theological insight and personal reflection, while also listening with care to the next generation’s questions, doubts, and experiences.

Hinduism: Swami Svatmananda

A world-traveling lecturer on Vedic knowledge, Sri Swami Svatmananda brings deep

philosophical grounding to the Hinduism episode. His mission is to correct common misunderstandings—particularly those shaped by colonial histories.

“The most common misconception,” he explains, “is that Hinduism is based on a caste system. Caste as it’s known today is a colonial construct. What exists within the Vedas are jatis and varnas,” expressions of occupation and duty which existed long before caste concepts, but which are more complex and more fluid than caste. “The British made the caste system through their census and lawmaking process by solidifying jatis into something they could manage more easily.”

He also refutes the notion that Hindus “worship idols,” emphasizing instead the symbolic depth of murti and ritual practice with statues, clarifying that “it’s not about the statue, it’s about what it represents.” His episode unfolds between reflective indoor scenes and vibrant moments of group ritual, inviting viewers into both the mind and heart of the tradition, “the world’s oldest living tradition, which has not been revived or reformed by prophets or charismatic leaders. Instead, Hinduism continues to thrive by drawing from the rich pool of traditions within its religious umbrella.”

Buddhism: Rev. Doryu Guglielmo Capelli

At Centro Zen Anshin in Rome, Italy, Rev. Doryu Capelli guides students through Soto Zen practice with gentleness and clarity. In his episode, he distills 2,500 years of Buddhist thought into teachings that emphasize stillness, community, and interdependence.

“The challenge,” he says, “is to not reduce everything to an easily digestible language that distorts the meaning.”

Through meditation and simple gestures, Capelli shows how Buddhism is not a set of beliefs, but a path—a disciplined way of being that trains the practitioner in presence and humility. He highlights the essential supports on that path, known by Buddhists as “the 3 treasures: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The teacher, the teachings, and the community. The 3 treasures support you in this path of discovery.”

Judaism: Rachel Rosen

Filmed in Rome’s Jewish Quarter, the Judaism episode features Rachel Rosen, a Jewish educator from Beth Hillel Temple. Blending historical awareness with personal practice, she reflects on what it means to honor Jewish tradition in a modern world.

She reflects on the main challenge of teaching the religion, “how to fairly represent all of Judaism. There are so many vast areas to cover, especially depending on your denomination.”

In her episode she focuses on lived practice—Shabbat, kosher observance, and the rhythms of Jewish family and communal life—while also confronting enduring anti-Semitic stereotypes.“People misconceive the role of Jews in history,” she notes. “When you understand a tradition, you don’t hate.”

Rosen names God as the source and sustainer of all life, encompassing the collective culture of Judaism. “The community keeps me from giving up. When things are difficult, there are always people in the Jewish community that I can turn to. And I hope to be that for other people too.”

Christianity: Rev. Tamara Torres McGovern

A Protestant Christian clergywoman from the United Church of Christ, Rev. Tamara Torres McGovern brings theological depth and hard-earned perspective to the Christianity episode. She speaks candidly about her early doubts, imposter syndrome, and eventual embrace of ministry. “I wasn’t sure I belonged in seminary,” she recalled when asked about her Christian leadership journey. “I was so new to the tradition. I didn’t grow up in church. I didn’t know if I belonged.”

Representing Christianity for her Religion Stories episode was a daunting challenge. “How can I represent the wisdom of a tradition that’s thousands of years old, with many voices, many denominations, many expressions? Protestantism especially is very divided.”

Her episode explores inclusive faith, queer belonging, and interdenominational learning—most movingly in a scene where she discusses the message of love at the heart of Christian theology. “People misunderstand Christianity when they think of it only as rules, rigidity, and condemnation. Some traditions emphasize grace, freedom, and unconditional love.”

As a queer, female Christian leader, Rev. McGovern sometimes has to navigate tricky waters when coming into tension with more conservative corners of her tradition. “There was a Catholic student who I was afraid wouldn’t respect me. I was afraid of what he might think of me. But when I asked him what he thought of me, he said, ‘I think you’re a good person.’ That moment really surprised me and reminded me that theology can be an invitation, not a weapon.”

Islam: Rosanna Maryam Sirignano

Rosanna Maryam Sirignano generously shared her time and expertise in the filming of the Islam episode. A scholar, public educator, and founder of MaryamEd—the first Italian digital education platform for Arab-Islamic studies—Sirignano brings a unique blend of academic rigor and spiritual insight.

With a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Heidelberg and a dynamic career in interreligious dialogue, she has trained imams and religious leaders across Italy and contributed to national initiatives on Muslim-Christian understanding.

Her scenes emphasize daily practice, the role of the Qur’an in shaping identity, and the connection between spirituality and social transformation. Her work embodies a vision of Islam as both rooted and expansive—grounded in tradition and open to dialogue.

Atheism & Agnosticism: Dr. Jenn Lindsay

For the episode on non-religious worldviews, the project turns inward—featuring Dr. Jenn Lindsay, Religion Stories’ director, not as filmmaker but as participant. A social scientist of religion, she steps into the role of expert to explore the complexity of unbelief and uncertainty.“Atheism is a tricky thing to represent because it’s the absence of a belief, not a belief system. And yet people’s identities are wrapped up in that absence.”

“There are no clergy or theologians of atheism,” she notes. “But there are people who live thoughtfully without supernatural belief—and frameworks for meaning that don't rely on God.”Drawing from her upbringing in Reform Judaism and her scholarly research on secularism, Lindsay engages the storytellers in a conversation about spiritual autonomy, moral reasoning, and the role of ritual even in non-theistic lives.

“I see myself as a scholar of secular humanism in its surprising variations,” she says. “It’s a worldview that’s easy to caricature—but there’s deep thought, struggle, and even reverence in many secular lives. What I’m trying to do is show that there is a coherent worldview, and a meaningful one, even in the absence of belief in God.”

Behind the Camera: A Collective Act of Listening

For director Jenn Lindsay, Religion Stories is not just a documentary—it’s an experiment in relational filmmaking. “Religion isn’t just a system of ideas—it’s a human language of meaning-making,” she says. “It’s longing, it’s love, it’s ritual and rebellion. Filming these six dialogues reminded us that difference doesn’t have to divide—it can be an engine for empathy and imagination.”

As both a filmmaker and a scholar, Lindsay emphasizes that Religion Stories aims to expand how we understand religion—visually, intellectually, and emotionally. The team’s goal was not to teach religion from the top down, but to invite viewers to witness how it’s lived, wrestled with, and reimagined from the inside out.

“Dialogue,” she adds, “activates the two levers that really change minds: self-awareness and meaningful contact. That’s why we built this series on conversation, not debate. No preaching—just people.”

An Emerging Creator's Journey: Vishwa Parmar

Since January 2023, Assistant Director Vishwa Parmar has been a core force behind Religion Stories—starting as a research intern, then growing into a lead script developer and editor.

She helped wrangle long transcripts, shape narrative arcs, and even tried her hand editing two full episodes. She also appears on screen as a student storyteller in the Hinduism episode. Reflecting on her journey, she says working with So Fare Films over the past two years has been “wild in the best way.” The experience of shaping the scripts and searching for a narrative thread that connects the six traditions taught her that “despite being so diverse, our stories of religion are in dialogue with one another.” More than anything, she’s been a champion of the project’s vision, helping build enthusiasm within the Emerging Creators Network around its unique intergenerational structure. As she puts it: “This project is about the quiet bridges between people from all over the world, who follow their own different path but with shared values. Working on Religion Stories has shown me what real community looks like—and given me one at the same time.”

Coming Soon: An Interfaith Episode

Even as the six episodes make their debut, So Fare Films is already in production on a seventh episode of Religion Stories, a short documentary of an interreligious conversation that weaves the entire series together into a higher meditation on human meaning-making. Designed as a standalone festival short, this new episode draws out shared practices, resonant doubts, and unexpected parallels across all six traditions. The production team has been hired, the creative process is underway, and the film is expected to launch on the festival circuit by late April 2026.

An Invitation to Watch and to Listen

Religion Stories offers more than a window into diverse spiritual traditions. It’s an invitation to look inward, listen more deeply, and stay curious about the people we think we understand. In a time of polarization and reductionism, this series dares to do something simple and rare: sit down with strangers and ask what they believe—and why.

Through the voices of experts and emerging adults alike, Religion Stories reveals that belief is not just something we inherit. It’s something we practice, question, and reimagine together.

Watch the Religion Stories series trailer below!