These filmmakers think saints speak to today’s crises

The actor-director who made a well-received film about a misunderstood Greek Orthodox saint is working on a new project that, she hopes, will show how relevant the saints are for today’s world.

Yelena Popovic, who directed the 2021 film Man of God, is retelling the story of St. Moses the Black, a 4th-century Egyptian monk, in the setting of contemporary American gangs. 

“Moses the Black will give hope and courage to people to abandon a life of sin firmly believing that God forgives those who truly repent and welcomes them to eternal life,” said Popovic, who wrote and will direct the film. "No life is lost or meaningless in the eyes of God."

Meanwhile, Popovic, along with her husband and co-producer, Alexandros Potter, are launching Simeon Faith, a fund that will finance and produce "talent-driven, highly marketable" faith-based films. It's aiming for one to two films a year over the next four years. 

The couple recently spoke with Aleteia from their base in Los Angeles about what brought them to the new venture.

Popovic was a budding actress and model when she left her native Belgrade in the midst of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Having grown up under communism, she said no one had ever given her religious instruction, but she had an innate sense of the divine. In the United States, she followed that sense and eventually asked for Baptism at the Serbian Orthodox Church in Alhambra, California.

Potter was born in Paris to parents who were Greek and Indian, and grew up in various parts of Europe. After working in Swiss banking and for a hedge fund, he ended up in Los Angeles working with a startup technology media company. He then served for several years as an executive at IM Global, a film finance, sales and distribution company, and at the dedicated film fund Grosvenor Park.

Along the way, he met Popovic, who came to LA to study at the acting school Playhouse West. In 2013, Potter and Popovic co-directed LA Superheroes, in which Popovic plays an immigrant who gets herself into a knotty situation after taking an unethical shortcut to obtain a passport.

She then wrote Man of God about the life of St. Nektarios of Aegina, a monk who suffered because of false accusations but is determined to respond in Christian humility. 

Potter said he was surprised by the effect Man of God had on people, including those who were not people of faith or who were not going to church.

“It was a good surprise to see that this film had an impact on people, inspired people to actually go back to church and actually sort of start to think more deeply about their faith,” said Potter, 40. “Of course, I think film and arts in general are supposed to bring something beneficial to the human being. Hopefully these films will definitely help people, to bring them towards the light.”

Popovic said she wrote the film to “help those that suffer the most,” and hopes Moses the Black will have a similar effect.

Moses is a film that "I believe will help people who are in very difficult situations, but of a different kind – people maybe who feel they’ve done things in their lives that are very destructive, and they cannot come out, that there's no way out for them, and there's no salvation,” said Popovic, 49. 

In a world where there's a dearth of humility but no shortage of anger and hatred, where “love between people has grown cold,” Popovic hopes her films can “inspire people to turn to light and to abandon that other side, which is anger and feeling superior over others, where we get to a point where we feel we can hurt somebody because we feel we are right.

“Humility is considered a weakness, yet it's completely the opposite,” she said. "Humility is strength. If we offer people examples of it, I think they will realize that it's a good choice to make in their lives.”

Simeon Faith will be managed by Potter and Popovic’s production company, Simeon Entertainment. The two companies take their name from a 12th-century Serbian saint, but the name also reminds those involved of the “just and devout man waiting for the consolation of Israel” in the Gospel of St. Luke. After he encountered the Christ Child in the temple, St. Simeon said, “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”

In Orthodox tradition, Popovic refers to him as “Simeon the God-Receiver.” She hopes her audiences catch at least a bit of that spirit. 

Said Popovic, “I believe in Christ. I've experienced it. I think that the importance of the Church nowadays is huge because I think people are experiencing a lot of pain, a lot of confusion, and I think only God can bring them to peace, and that's why it's extremely important to have good examples, to have love, to approach people with love and kindness.”