LOGLINE

Rejected by the mental hospital, a traumatized woman joins an odd order of nuns who dance, charm, and love her back to health.

SYNOPSIS

Old Habits Dyed Pink is the story of a radical order of flower-crowned nuns resisting capitalism, patriarchy, and boredom in highly-saturated 16 mm. When a stoic victim of PTSD joins their order, the nuns’ belief in radical freedom is put to the test.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

There are two kinds of nun movies. You have the solemn, ‘authentic’ kind that intends to portray asceticism and faith in God as truly as one might live it, the kind in the lineage of Black Narcissus and The Passion of Joan of Arc, and then you have the nunsploitation films of the 70’s, the kind that plays so hard against type that you can already smell the melodramatic lesbian vampire sex from the opening credits. Old Habits Dyed Pink is neither of those kinds. Instead, it pulls from both styles of nun films to carve a path between them, leading, hopefully, to a truer representation of unorthodox, self-governing communities. The only realism it aspires to is the realism of human emotions—these nuns celebrate, bicker, and cry together. The one thing they insist upon is that it be together. It’s a nod to the complicated familial love of queer communities. Yes, there is lesbianism in this nun flick, but it’s not the exploitative hypersexualized kind you see in some nun movies. It’s tender, poignant, and, we hope, real. The story pits the clinical, careless individualism of a ruthlessly underfunded DOGE-era psych ward against the holistic, nurturing communalism of this imaginary convent, the Sisterhood of the Everlasting Bloom. Reverend Mother Mary’s belief that “the best way to control someone is to set them free and observe” is put to the test, since, left alone with her traumatic past, the protagonist Dupree would inevitably harm herself. The shooting style is largely inspired by Yasujiro Ozu’s familial dramas. The static, locked-off shots inside the convent, which resemble Ozu’s style, are to be contrasted with chaotic moving shots outside of it. Eventually, the calming style inside the convent wins out in the battle for Dupree’s heart, slowing her down and soothing her inner turmoil. Meanwhile, this slow-cinema shooting style will be juxtaposed with energetic blocking and bright maximalist production design, to represent the paradox of this odd order of nuns who live freely and boldly yet radiate an inner peace. We hope Old Habits Dyed Pink can stand as a piece of resistance in times of heartless individualism, when more and more queer communities see ‘going back to the land,’ to borrow a phrase from the 70’s, as the only way to live freely and authentically. We hope to laugh, to inspire, and to love.

KEY CREW

Connor Keep - Director of Photography

Connor Keep is a cinematographer living and working in New York and Los Angeles. His works and collaborations span narrative, documentary, and music video. His work has been shown across venues and platforms such as Anthology Film Archives, Rolling Stone, New Next Film Festival, and DirectorsLibrary.com among others.