A new documentary from Anne Goetze

This inspiring documentary reaches across time and place, embracing the power of love and prayer through art and spirituality, opening a window into our own desire for transcendence and a respite from our modern exhaustion.

Over the centuries Visitation Nuns have given their entire life to prayer and being a gentle presence in a chaotic world. One can't help but wonder what it might be like to sacrifice even a modicum of our life to the betterment of humanity.

The Story

  • Anne’s love and fascination with her Aunt Helen grew into a deeper understanding of the contemplative life of the Visitation Order. Her journey explores their life of devotion and simplicity with a profound artistic expression she now shares with the world.

  • Helen Goetze, Sr Margaret Mary, was a Visitation nun teaching French and music in West Virginia, when she was called to live a totally contemplative life in the ancient city of Annecy, France, spiritual home of the Visitation order.

  • After Sister Margarite Marie's death, Anne was compelled to take her years of documentation to another level, working on a series of over 40 paintings based on her photographs of the Annecy visits in a remarkable blending of photography, paint and ashes.

Nun Series Paintings

Through the lens of visual art, the messages of peace, simplicity, and being a gentle presence in a violent world are lifted up. Shining the light on these devoted women, dedicated to a contemplative life and praying, opens up these possibilities in our own lives.

  • A snow-covered mountain with rocky cliffs, partly shrouded in mist, under a dark sky.

    Climb Every Mountain

  • Three nuns dressed in traditional black and white habits are smiling and interacting inside a room with a window and a crucifix on the wall.

    See No, Hear No, Speak No Evil

  • A painting of a stone brick oven with a small fire burning inside, steps leading up to the oven, and a white dove flying in front of the oven. The outdoor scene is painted with warm earthy tones.

    Stairway To Heaven

  • A watercolor painting of a lake with reflections of trees and buildings along the shoreline, and a hillside with a church or cathedral with a tall steeple in the background.

    Monastery of the Visitation

  • Four nuns walking on a dirt path between a stone wall on the left and a hill on the right, with leafless trees and a cloudy sky in the background.

    The Procession

A smiling woman with blonde hair, wearing a green cap and a red and blue plaid shirt, stands in front of a black piano inside a room decorated with Christmas items and framed photos on the wall.

Anne Goetze

Anne Goetze, Tennessee painter, photographer, and filmmaker, grew up in an artistic family—her father and grandfather were photographers; her mother worked in embroidery and garden design. She studied art in school, apprenticed with professional photographers, and took private lessons with artists including Anton Weiss, Quang Ho, Skip Whitcomb, and Dawn Whitelaw.

Working for years as a retouch artist in Nashville’s music industry, she developed a technique combining photography and painting. Living on a small farm, she focuses on landscape and rural life. Her nature documentary The Living Land airs nationwide on American Public Television.

For over twenty years she has documented the cloistered life at the Monastery of the Visitation in Annecy, France—Pray to Love spans photography, paintings, a book, and a documentary. Her work is in the permanent collections of The Tennessee State Museum, the Booth Western Art Museum, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, Vanderbilt mental health and cancer centers, and private collections worldwide.

Part documentary of a contemplative, cloistered order of nuns and part exploration of the human spirit, PRAY TO LOVE journeys from the French Alps to Anne's art studio in rural Tennessee to the serene beauty of Visitation Monasteries across America.

Pray to Love is Anne Goetze's second documentary. Her first, The Living Land, was distributed nationally by American Public Television to over 84% of public-television stations across the United States and PRAY TO LOVE will experience similar success.

Help tell the Story…

We are seeking sponsorships, grants, foundation support and individual donations in order to secure production financing and distribution in a variety of venues and media outlets: Public Television, the World Channel, streaming networks, film festivals, religious media outlets, and theatrical release.

Sponsorship Opportunities

A QR code.

    • Up to 15 sec. brand acknowledgement at beginning and end of film - "This program is brought to you in part by..."

    • Inclusion in Sizzle/Trailer with brand link shared in social media presenting station, and distributor communications

    • Logo and recognition in credits, trailers, and event materials

    • Inclusion in film, broadcast, screenings and related promotions

    • Invitations to private screenings, art openings, and events

    • Featured "thank you" acknowledgements on annegoetze.com and related social media platforms

    • Artist signed limited edition print set of Pray to Love art (selected from permanent collection)

    • Artist signed Pray to Love coffee table books (10)

    • Up to 15 sec. brand acknowledgement at beginning and end of film

    • "This program is brought to you in part by..."

    • Inclusion in Sizzle/Trailer with brand link shared in social media presenting station, and distributor communications

    • Logo and recognition in credits, trailers, and event materials

    • Inclusion in film, broadcast, screenings and related promotions

    • Invitations to private screenings, art openings, and events

    • Featured "thank you" acknowledgements on annegoetze.com and related social media platforms

    • Artist signed limited edition print set of Pray to Love art

    • Artist signed Pray to Love coffee table books (5)

    • Up to 15 sec. brand acknowledgement at beginning and end of film

      "This program is brought to you in part by..."

    • Inclusion in Sizzle/Trailer with brand link shared in social media presenting station, and distributor communications

    • Logo and recognition in credits, trailers, and event materials Inclusion in film, broadcast, screenings and related promotions

    • Invitations to private screenings, art openings, and events

    • Featured "thank you" acknowledgements on annegoetze.com and related social media platforms

    • Artist signed limited edition print set of Pray to Love art

    • Artist signed Pray to Love coffee table book

    • Inclusion in social media, presenting station, and distributor communications

    • Recognition in credits, and event materials

    • Inclusion in film, broadcast, screenings and related promotions

    • Invitations to screenings, art openings, and events

    • Featured "thank you" acknowledgements on annegoetze.com and related social media platforms

    • Artist signed limited edition print set of Pray to Love

    • Inclusion in film, broadcast, screenings, and related event promotions

    • Invitations to screenings, art openings, and events

    • Featured "thank you" acknowledgements on annegoetze.com and related social media platforms

    • Artist signed limited edition print of select Pray to Love art

Make a Donation

We want to hear from you…