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April 15, 2025From Filmmaker Victoria Westover
Comes a New Documentary about Living a Cloistered Life
Final Vows
Now Streaming on Amazon
DVD also available!
Final Vows chronicles the life of a cloistered order of nuns at Santaita Abbey, a Cistercian monastery in the high desert of Arizona. The nuns, who take a vow that binds them to remain in the community they entered for life, candidly share their joys and struggles. While each woman’s journey is unique, they all felt a call and chose to join this community of prayer and work.
The nuns rise at 4am for their first prayers of the day and support themselves through the production and sale of altar bread. The Abbey faces challenges as the nuns are aging and few young women are choosing a monastic life. The Abbess, a life-sustaining presence for this striving community, may have to step down soon when she turns 75.
Made from small moments of daily life, the film serves as a meditation on aging and caring for others and asks viewers to consider if this lifestyle offers any wisdom for our society.
"Perched on a hill in Sonoita, Arizona is the Santa Rita Abbey. It overlooks the trees and the mountains as silence envelops the entire area. The chirping birds and the wind's song between the trees are the only sounds that pierce the silence. But get closer to the abbey and the sounds of song and prayer fill the air. They're from a group of cloistered contemplative nuns. Now their stories are in a new documentary by local filmmaker Vicky Westover. For over four years, Westover worked on gaining their trust and respect." -Tina Giuliano, KGUN-Tucson
"This remarkable documentary gives us access to a world we rarely if ever are privy to." -Anne Brodie, What She Said
FINAL VOWS
Directed by Victoria Westover
84 minutes | color | English | 2024
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