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FIRST REFORMED
Ernst Toller would be a priest to his flock — if the few far-flung believers who belong to his church could really be called that. Once he was a chaplain in the military, but the loss of his son, who died in the service of his country, martyred his own soul without mercy. Toller then meets Mary and her husband Michael, a radical environmental activist. She carries within her the future he no longer believes in. When calamity strikes, Toller is called to action.
Meet the director
Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1946. In 1976, he achieved notoriety as the author of the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER. Shortly thereafter, he turned to directing. His work reveals his interest in material that explores the depths of the human soul — seen in AMERICAN GIGOLO (1980), CAT PEOPLE (1982), MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS (1985), and THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS (1990), all of which have been shown at FILMFEST MÜNCHEN — as well as the, perhaps spiritually, intertwined nature of violence and redemption.