You Have to Believe
2012. 15 min.
pray


Every year the Pentecostal Movement hosts a major camp meeting conference in Husbondliden, a village in the north of Sweden. The meadows are filled with tents and caravans. During meetings people present subjects for prayers and receive intercessions. You Have to Believe revolves around these camp meetings. The point of departure is the connection between prayer and the placebo effect. To make intercessions is basically a very nice idea. However, a great deal of faith is required in order to create an answer to these prayers.
The documentary feature of the film changes into a more personal storytelling where my family's relation to the place is brought out as well as my own relation, or capacity, to pray for others. My role today as a film-maker instead of a participant is made clear and becomes a standpoint in itself. The repetition of an event, in the past and the present time, shows us that the camp meeting  is a  timeless zone to some extent – new children grow up within the movement but the same miracles and healings take place.
You Have to Believe is a personal documentary where memory is investigated – the memory of a place and a way of looking at reality. However, this personal story is told by a traditional male voice over in order to show the generally applicable aspect of the private and the fictionalization of our own memories.



Photography 70x70 cm



<<