Inspired by the disappearance of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson circa 1926, Sister Aimee, from writer-directors Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann made a splash at SXSW this year.
The film's synopsis reads:
"America's most famous evangelist is a woman looking for a way out. Fed up with her own success, and swept up in her lover's daydreams about Mexico, she finds herself on a wild trip to the border. Based on true events. Mostly made up."
The story about Aimee's weeks-long disappearance that became the stuff of myth has been fictionalized before, but Buck and Schlingmann's movie pops with a flair for the weird and for period details.
Anna Margaret Hollyman stars as Aimee, who hits the road with Steven (Michael Mosley) but is soon entranced by their trousers-clad guide, Rey (Andrea Suarez Paz).
In the exclusive clip below, Steven awakens to find that Rey and Aimee have spent the night huddled together in the back seat of the car while Steven slept alone in a tent. It's not clear what went down, but Aimee appears laser-focused on Rey.
Sister Aimee, from 1091, opens in select theaters September 27.