A Selection from Award-Winning Ufva Films (2022–2023)

reflecting the creative practices of the University Film and Video Association (UFVA) membership, this spotlight piece showcases an award-winning film from the 2023 UFVA conference. Ora Et Labora is a beautiful film that explores the efforts of the Trappist monks of St. Joseph's Abbey as they strive to introduce European monastic-style beer brewing into the US craft beer market. In the following essay that accompanies an excerpt from the film, filmmakers Jena Burchick, Mark Burchick, and Adam Schwartz take readers on a fascinating production journey, sharing their nuanced approach to collaborative documentary filmmaking. Inspired by the monks’ insistence that the filmmakers practice ongoing consent throughout the making and exhibition of Ora Et Labora, this essay reveals how the monks’ ethical demand profoundly shaped the development of the film, which premiered at the 2023 UFVA conference, earning an Honorable Mention Award for Documentary Short.A heavy Doppelbock (double bock) lunch beer was the unexpected inspiration for our film about legacy and vocation at an American monastery. While on a freelance film job at a brewery in Virginia Beach, codirector Mark Burchick read a brewing-industry trade publication about the history of monastic beer. Mark had been fasting from solid food, a Catholic practice for Fridays during Lent, and was surprised to read that during the Middle Ages, monks would brew “liquid bread,” a high-calorie, rich, brown beer, to sustain themselves during their fasts (Wilson 1). The article explained that there existed monastic communities who sought to introduce the European tradition of beer brewing to the American craft beer market.After Mark's freelance job wrapped, the crew celebrated with selections from the Virginia Beach brewery. Between the article and the wrap beers, there was an immediate spark of enthusiasm. Settling on the most traditional “monastic-style beer” the Virginia Beach brewery offered, Mark holed up in a corner of the bar and mapped out the next few months of challenging research, travel, and access, which would eventually culminate in the short documentary Ora Et Labora. He brought the plan home to Jena Burchick, his partner and collaborator, who is particularly interested in documenting community relationships. Soon, they were off.“Ora et labora” is a Latin phrase and motto for Christian monasticism, meaning “prayer and work.” The community at the center of our film, the Trappist monks of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, are a cloistered community, meaning they commit themselves to solemn vows of solitude and obedience. These vows are perceived as the equivalent of a marriage in which the postulant is choosing not a partner, but a community, to share in a lifestyle that is described as “ordinary, obscure, and laborious” (“Cistercian” 7). Once a person enters, they agree that the monastery is their home, and their bedroom their “cell.” On joining, you renounce your family of origin, you choose a new name for yourself, and you agree, with very few exceptions, that you will no longer participate in the world outside the monastery grounds.During Mark's initial planning session, he reflected on some key concerns. He had just spent the day filming a commercial for a brewery owner, who had discussed his challenges entering an emerging and competitive market. How could operating an American craft beer business, which typically requires a massive, public-facing front, mesh with the devotional schedules and the quiet, contemplative lifestyle associated with a monastic community? The monks join one another for communal prayer seven times a day, and the times not spent in prayer are meant for work and quiet reflection. Would the “ora et labora” (prayer and work) highlighted in our title be a contradiction or a harmonious blend?We were eager to find out and to share this aspect of this story more than any other. Yes, there is a novelty factor in monks who brew alcohol, conjuring up media stereotypes of round, jolly friars. More so, we wanted this story to dig beneath the surface and let audiences know where this tradition now stands. Gone are the days of brewing beer as a means of sterilizing water (Hieronymus xv) and monasteries as economic powerhouses that structured towns and villages (Elliott 71). Where do American Catholic monasteries find themselves, and what are their contributions to secular society, economic or otherwise?Naturally, obstacles to access were our biggest concern. Being a cloistered community, would the monks allow us behind the curtain to see their private lives of prayer as much as their lives of work? This dilemma would make or break the project. Access is traditionally defined as the freedom or ability to obtain or make use of something (“Access,” def. 1b), and it is the essential element in documentary filmmaking's code of ethics. Simply put, without access, without a foot (or camera) in the door, you do not have a film.We developed our careers in film before the popularity of the documentary genre exploded onto streaming platforms and social media avenues such as TikTok. When we were undergraduates, our professors often encouraged us to pilgrimage to the local Baltimore video rental store, the late, great Video Americain, to hunt down Agnes Varda and Frederick Wisemen films on physical media. There was no opportunity to scroll through an endless roster of streaming options. Our film-history education was curated through word of mouth, textbooks, art-house theaters, and the process of running our fingers over the covers of VHS tapes and DVDs at Video Americain. Judy Berman has highlighted how the COVID pandemic helped facilitate the burgeoning popularity in the documentary streaming market, writing, “For better or worse, we're watching a genre step off its highbrow pedestal—one that supported it through the making of many classic and literally world-changing films, but also helped to limit its audience. This democratization has been as messy as it is exciting.”Messy is right. We came up in the era of reality television, and as film students and early-career freelancers, we were taught to enter any prospective story space with the camera and audio rolling and to not stop until we were driving away. This kind of filmmaking may obtain the story and allow the filmmaker to satisfy their script and agenda, garnering more than enough footage for options in their edit, but it can prove limiting. This type of storytelling also risks an overwhelming level of implicit bias and lessens room for collaboration with those who are featured in the film. This approach often leaves no room for an organic process of growing and developing trust. However, within the past decade, a renaissance of more ethical approaches to the documentary has emerged, particularly with the timing of the pandemic. As viewers craved connection and human-centered stories, filmmakers evolved from extracting stories from subjects to bringing participants into the filmmaking processes (Aufderheide).In their feature documentary Subject (2022), filmmakers Camilla Hall and Jennifer Tiexiera call attention to the impact that well-known documentaries such as Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1994) and The Wolfpack (Crystal Moselle, 2015) have had on the lives of their participants. The film “explores the ethical responsibilities nonfiction filmmakers face when they decide to capture people, often at their most vulnerable, thereby forever locking them in a moment in time that will live on through the ages no matter how much a person grows or changes” (Morfoot). Subject addresses several topics we found to be central themes in the development of our film: access and consent as ongoing dialogues between director and participant; respecting and honoring your participant's expectations and agreements; and navigating your obligations to your participant after the film's release.Our experience in making Ora et Labora thrust us into a between how we were and how we wanted to we a of at and growing throughout of the with the experience the about ethical documentary practices that have on a much after we our film. with in and through the film off to in the film had a to to the in its most you We that in with a cloistered community of we would be we were through the would be the we would that would make the film.We our by not monastic communities but also media about monastic The most of was which the lives of the monks of in the for one with the monastery for before it access, and he was the of the production with the monks for months of production Film by We we would not have that kind of time or but this was the type of access and production to which we were also by The of which with a contemplative The sought to at the for the it to the in the story of the traditional practices of The film explores the craft of brewing as a devotional and and few of which our film's was a call to the where we with the one of the few at the We explained that we would be to on an and would to stop by to with the monks and our in on their and an to we came to the with no or and without the immediate the of a camera monks of St. Joseph's Abbey us with a that in This is a of who they are as a Trappist which our approach to We spent the than and we them an of our to make a film about their and history of monastic beer is when the The monks to the of the film and our on the with the monks who at St. also to from the Trappist Association This commercial and the or title of Trappist in much the many be in and to to be as a have been into the of through to We found that and were not for the but the of the The with the typically to in and they at a and what we be a a project. We were eventually the to film for days in with a crew of would the for our day of the we that the monastery had had with production an in which a camera had a down the of the during their without to do The to more that not what we wanted to film but also how we would do We explained that we would capture footage and would in the of the when This was a for us we wanted audiences to one step from the to be their but not of their as one Christian an of space and the and than they do in which a in which audiences to be in from a a in the of the is on of and the our director of and our production from the from However, when we the and room on the of the we could not but and by the of the and its connection to the The out of when to the and of most had the behind the to an within the as he about his The of the space would on to how we within it as we the story of the the day of we the key of the monastery and brewing The monks with several or is on the brewery. These and This initial was to our for our film and to any or this in our we had a few our Simply put, we were and wanted to make a we our access on our ability to and from the production Mark that he was over his at and when to he and will have to are to This a from and the on of the out of the was this kind of that we they wanted to see from a production and the type of we wanted to were and from the which came as an unexpected to the a of the we which were such as the and and which be for and While we to eventually access to on we that the of was one to be at this in the We were to the We had to be to as we more of the and more about the monks’ the brought a camera for this but we to down we this initial as we to monks who may not have been of our We wanted to that this was an to see behind the than a traditional This to the of production but it our day with a about and participant which the and more they would not until after the of the film. This was for it was a film about monks and beer they were about their and wanted to have the about their their was how the of their on camera was to be from the is that the monks are not to on which we was not to work for our film. do the monks to at the brewery and at but they also take in the and of their over communal and their How could we this from the this to be a but it our attention on how we would the monks and what came as a to was the that the monks were not the Trappist brewery in but also one of Trappist In documenting the of an our film was also to for such as and by many to be the beer in the world We were not on the film was to to but we now that we had a of on us than just the monks of St. Joseph's at our with this on our We we just up and home, but a of and While we would our students to film without for of the we were to break our We would to the plan and film for the next few to and see we had a We that developing our and honoring expectations was to be the key factor in and they would off on an after this of following day, we before the at to in our and find our before the monks at for prayer in a was for us to their to up for we were to and to do in a that to their As we for the we our in the of the our in key He would in the of the to do his experience was the with and the with an We with one another and from to While the is to they are in behind the can to the monks’ but the As we were a in this We would on the until we were in and This a level of our approach to and our and us as another that we were to their lives and not extracting a story from the monks was an more spent much of our careers in commercial and we were to a of at the of an This time us to audio and and camera and most it that the participant has into a the camera is the participants to introduce themselves at the and at the of the to have footage of them themselves in a was the most experience of our process in that there were no we space and room for participant to with us and our with a of that no We often with about Trappist or to the and the monks would into and stories that were and of their and about their lives before the their in a that no of approach to to and to without us to experience a level of no which was something we had not The and from and as to for This approach an that was at home in the monastic to a we we would to take of the access we were We would of the monastic but would not be to this as we would We of the monks who feature in the he could another of the as we with the monastic as he enough throughout the of the community who not to on camera that we would be This to be as we were to a in a that to within the with also us the freedom to capture and very that take as when would his time in the or in the for at a we home, it that our of we wanted to our Between the of we were and the that this was a we had to that we would not be to up to very or We spent a few months with our production to see we could but that the for In what is is the of about of over a for filming at the in and for the in that this we had an that us more freedom in our approach to filmmaking. We when to and we could more when in In with the in the we very and as as at where the monks were with the this a of The of the film the is meant to a more and the has an and the film the and to that this is a opportunity for the monastic community to with the In the the monks in more the film, our also the that are participants who a of and they are in This is a that Ora et Labora is the monks’ what was as a of we to a with as our was he the face of but he also had a and on for up the monastery after our production with We will not into the of that is his story to but some of that on camera us at another would have to have experience of into and the but that is the dilemma of the filmmaker navigating a story in footage is most story do you We to the with the plan we had and what the monastery community was from a from the monastery in of we it would be to developing that with that and the monastery were an with his to We as they to in their that to brewery would about the they had in the and at We that we to in the film or the with the monastery that we had this we also that we had our avenues for outside and that filming was to prove for us to and for a longer of the film were on to to the film, and during this with and Mark and Jena would have to on the film until for Ora Et Labora came when we how to our on as our came to be about the legacy of the monastery brewery and of in the The monks in the community have themselves not as but as a operating in of and We that at the brewery and monastery that as he he is an to to and In we found that more and and great to between as the We had and with monks but found that we to or their in the of the film. was during the COVID pandemic that we in on a and we our University Adam Schwartz to on the of the film. St. Joseph's Abbey is such a the of the with the of the We to be highlighted and in the and with his Adam was to them audio process for Ora Et Labora was a and creative there was much and to it was essential to in the and of the film. The was to that the with the of the in the film also and step in the process there was or could it be the be with Once this factor had been and any had been it was time to on to more this was an the of the in Ora Et Labora was of the had been in the the exhibition space for the and the beer space with and down a in which the was to In this the was to the from without the that the within its The not have but they were that the or on the would into the next or of the This in the and a for the such as were to any that were not In many the of the audio the as it had been after the In a many of the are as in a film, the for the space the is We were to use the by our as as that were and to the the and the was to the and the into the This was a process to or in films, during which of are often after filming is and are into the film. was essential that audio on the be be on to the key to the into the was the had to be to the of the film and its et that is in the is to a experience of and This approach that an of the the of the which be into These of were to the for of the featured in Ora Et Labora. approach was during of the with and to the film's much of the and was the and came in one of for a day of collaboration on the The was to and This of audio to and of the The was to an and experience that to the our its we one and In we were that the brewery was to an been by the COVID pandemic and a in the American craft beer market. had been with to for but it would after just The monks came to it at its which to the we had for our film. We this was to make for an and to our film, but by this we we to wrap up and There would not be a or nuanced to the without more time or we brought the film to the monks to we were to that they were about the film's the of they had in to the monastery and in the of the brewery project. We that had to from the brewery and was on In a we had would be to the and any with they would off on the film, they wanted to know how we to as it was their that the film not be to the to their we that we the film was and is an and of the brewery its to The film would now as a to this by and on how the had developed as an and brought to we wanted the film to be as as we would with a on and with no would on an monastery came to agree with and we out our on this the but of what the of the film would We that we had been in and with such a and but that the film could have been and some of in their time of premiered the film at the 2023 UFVA earning a Documentary Honorable Mention Award and from the The film also the in Award for and at the Association at the 2023 Film in us to with the monastery. from the the film to be of a for that to we to from the monastery. We out to the to see their about have Would they be to consent to a and the for in the The monastery explained that they were for the of the film and had no to the which in on many of our initial those and the of in the film, to be the consent from the monastery has been a fascinating opportunity for We into this not would prove to be a but we that no of the film could there was an ongoing with our participants. there of the that could have been and that could have the in or There but such a film's economic and would have a very We are that the of us to the and expectations we at the of the filmmaking process and our approaches to nonfiction filmmaking as a would have a that us in of the monks were into a that them the to and when their story was as those over the of the film's making of this film, the of films such as has us into how any filming and will be As filmmakers and we to how our students may with the documentary not in the media they but also in the they and the they In the film, about how on the brewery as an and we can the for after on the for We often about the of the monastery and about the we as filmmakers and While we that the film the surface of what we had to we do that it a moment in time and is a to the work and that the monastic community this project. We on the process with the that the monks of St. Joseph's Abbey may no longer brew beer, they will the quiet and contemplative they have for the past prayer and et

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• Ethics in Documentary Film Production

  Pat Aufderheide, Patricia Aufderheide•Journal of Film and Video•2024

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