Five strangers meet in the mountains. They are all hiding the same thing: they have lost their faith. On Monday we bring Heathens to Berlin for the first time.
Heathens comes to Berlin this Monday. It is free, and you should come. → Tickets
Five strangers arrive at a retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Each of them grew up in a Christian fundamentalist home. Each of them is carrying the same secret: they no longer believe. One was a preacher. One sang in a Southern church choir. One is the daughter of two ministers.
“Nobody in my family knows that I don’t believe anymore,”
One of them says early in the film. Another puts the cost plainly: it would affect his livelihood, his income, and the way his family sees him.
That is the quiet centre of Heathens, the new documentary by David Cowan and Shawn Hardin. It is not a film against religion. It is a film about what honesty costs when your family is your church and your church is your whole world. Hundreds of people come to this retreat every year, many of them under assumed names.[1] Over one weekend, through music and friendship, these five decide to stop hiding. Then they go home, and the film follows what happens next.
What I like about it is the tone. The subject could easily turn bitter. Instead the film is warm, often funny, and unexpectedly hopeful. It takes belief seriously and it takes doubt seriously, and it asks those who still believe to look with empathy at the people they love who no longer do.
It also speaks to a larger shift. Fewer Americans call themselves Christian every year, and many more keep their doubts to themselves.[2] The film gives that silence five faces.
Heathens had its world premiere at the United Nations Association Film Festival in October and has just opened in US cinemas. On Monday we bring it to Berlin for the first time, together with Together Films. Shawn Hardin will be with us for a conversation after the film, and for a drink afterwards.
Heathens (87 minutes, in English)
Monday, 16 November 2026
Doors 6pm, film 6.30pm, followed by Q&A and drinks
Filmtheater Colosseum, Schönhauser Allee 123, Berlin
Free entry, places are limited
Get your ticket
[1] According to the filmmakers.
[2] The filmmakers cite Cornell University research estimating that more than 80 million American adults exaggerate or fabricate their faith. The trailer puts the number of Americans reporting religious trauma at 40 million.
