Ali Weinstein is a documentary director and producer based in Toronto. Her directorial debut “Mermaids,” about a group of women who strongly identify with the powerful aquatic archetype, premiered at Hot Docs in 2017. In 2018, Ali co-directed “The Impossible Swim” for TSN as part of their Engraved on a Nation series. Weinstein is also a proud board member of Breakthroughs Film Festival, Canada’s only festival devoted to showcasing short films by emerging women-identified and non-binary directors.

“#BLESSED” was scheduled to screen at the 2020 Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival. A digital version of the fest has been organized due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “#BLESSED” will screen in Hot Docs Festival Online, which will launch May 28 and is geo-blocked to Ontario, Canada. More information about the program and how to tune in can be found here.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

AW: “#BLESSED” follows Sam, a young, hip evangelical pastor, as he tries to expand the reach of his church, C3. Sam’s story is interwoven with the stories of a few of the people who already go to C3 and explores what this church, with its traditional values, is fulfilling for this young urban generation.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

AW: I read about C3 in the newspaper and was blown away by how successful this evangelical church had been amongst a young, hip, urban demographic in my city. I had never seen anything like this before, and was curious about what was behind it.

Coincidentally, Cornelia Principe, a local producer, reached out to me about the story at that same time thinking it would make an interesting documentary, and wanted to develop the story together to see where it could go. I think we were both interested in what was drawing young people, who statistically have been moving away from organized religion over the last couple of decades, back to the church in such droves. And we were interested in the life experiences of these young people prior to finding C3. We wanted to know what their needs were that weren’t being met elsewhere, and what was at the root of those needs for them.

W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?

AW: Most of us have strong feelings about religion, so I expect everyone watching will come to this film with their own ideas about what to expect. It would be nice if people walked away having seen something different than they expected, maybe rethinking at least one small part of how they perceive a church like C3.

One of the characters in the film, Galen, talks about how our secular society is really cynical, and that’s one big reason why people are driven to churches like C3 in the first place. I hope for people watching who aren’t religious they might walk away thinking about the human needs we have that used to be fulfilled by churches and other places of worship and how we fulfill those now.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

AW: I personally am not a Christian, which Sam and C3 knew from the beginning. They were always really open with me in spite of that, which surprised me at first. But my atheism in some ways was where the biggest challenge lay. I wasn’t coming at this wanting to make some kind of an exposé, but I also didn’t intend to promote the church.

Trying to find that balance is challenging when you’re making a film about any religion. It’s really easy to accidentally veer over onto either side.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

AW: The film was made for “CBC Docs POV.” Cornelia had just finished another film for that same strand at CBC, and she thought they’d be interested in this story, so we pitched to them and ended up getting a license from them. The film was funded by the CBC, the Canada Media Fund, and tax credits.

With that budget, we were able to create a festival version of the film and the 44-minute version for CBC.

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

AW: My dad is a documentary filmmaker, so I grew up around his work and more importantly his love of his work. Not wanting to be unoriginal, I tried to avoid it for a while and dabbled in some other things — I started and quit law school, for example — but eventually decided to try my hand at it and enrolled in a documentary program at Ryerson University in Toronto.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

AW: Some of the best advice I’ve received is to go where you want and assume the role of what you want to be doing. That advice came to me once in the form of being told I should go to Montreal for Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal (RIDM), even though I had applied for their Talent Lab and was rejected. I went that year anyway — and even sat in the Talent Lab sessions, which no one seemed to notice — and I ended up selling my first feature film to a broadcaster while I was there!

I can’t remember much bad advice I’ve been given — which is maybe a good thing? I do recall being told to make sure I found some “pretty” subjects since people like to watch good-looking people on screen. I wouldn’t ever say that’s good advice to give a filmmaker trying to tell an interesting story.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

AW: This is one that I’m working on, so really this is advice for myself: don’t apologize. Don’t feel bad about asking for more. Don’t question or minimize your own voice in your emails or your conversations with your crew or subjects. You know what you want, so just ask for it. People will respect you more for it anyway. Unless of course you do need to apologize because you’ve done something wrong, in which case, this advice is not applicable.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

AW: I loved “The Queen of Silence” a 2014 documentary by Polish director Agnieszka Zwiefka about a young deaf Roma girl who loves Bollywood movies. It is a hybrid doc that uses these musical sequences during which you go inside the mind of the protagonist and see her Bollywood fantasies come to life around her.

It’s really magical and just so imaginative.

W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you keeping creative, and if so, how?

AW: Like many, I was in shock and very depressed at the start of the pandemic but have settled into a bit more acceptance now. “#BLESSED” was supposed to have its world premiere at Hot Docs, and I was really looking forward to that hometown premiere — now it’s uncertain how we will get the film out there.

I’ve been quite busy working from home — I still had lots of post work to do on “#BLESSED” and on another film that I produced called “There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace” directed by Lulu Wei, so I’ve been working away on those two films, which is proving to be a far slower process than when you can all be in the same room!

I have been dreaming up some new ideas too, and just writing them down has been rewarding as it’s a reminder there’s something in me that still wants to make things even though the world feels like it’s falling apart.