Paradies: Glaube

Paradies: Glaube sees the return of Teresa’s sister from Paradies: Liebe. While Teresa tries her luck in the Kenyan sex industry, her sister Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter, Hundstage, Import/Export) seeks paradise with Jezus. During her holidays, this religious fanatic goes door to door with sculptures of Mother Mary. When her husband, a paralysed Muslim returns from Egypt after a multi-year absence, a domestic struggle develops surrounding marriage and religion.

Ulrich Seidl: "In the course of my work on Jesus, You Know, a film about intimacy with God, we discovered that in Austria (and probably elsewhere, too) there are thousands of so-called Wandering Mother of God statues in circulation. They are carried by pious Catholics - mostly women - and taken into homes and apartments. People who accept one of these Mother of Gods expect healing effects for their physical and psychological afflictions. Aside from this being a fantastic story for a film, the house visits were ideal to tell 'small stories' within a larger story, a film structure that I have used ever since my first theatrical feature Good News."