My Breakup with God
2019 · 7m · New Zealand
Directed by Zoe McIntosh
Genres: coming-of-age, documentary, LGBTQ+
Tones: contemplative, provocative, tender
Raised in a conservative Christian home, Caitlyn leaves the church and explores sexual freedom, eventually finding Tantra.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A faith-deconstruction doc that could've been a TED talk—except McIntosh commits fully to the sensual specificity of Tantra as spiritual replacement, not just rejection, which is genuinely subversive in ways most "leaving religion" narratives aren't.
Formally situated in the lineage of personal essay documentaries (Agnès Varda, Chantal Akerman), yet the film's treatment of embodiment as theological argument—rather than illustration—marks a considered intervention in how docs handle spiritual autobiography.
The decision to let long takes of Caitlyn's hands, breath work, and tactile presence do the philosophical arguing instead of voiceover is what makes this work; seven minutes of restraint that trusts the viewer to feel the theology shift rather than hear it explained.