Jenn Liu

Il Presepe di Calcata is 21-minute ethnographic documentary film about the Italian village of Calcata and its eccentric residents, and chiefly follows the handmade Nativity scene (presepe in Italian) of the Dutch Sculptor Marijcke van der Maden, a resident of Calcata since 1984. The film is an ethnography of lived religion, simultaneously examining religious practice and religious object, and it explores the symbiosis between an artwork and its living inspiration. It provides a case study for how religion inspires creative responses, creates solidarity within a community, and acts as a platform for expressive nostalgia and meaning-making.

Jenn Lindsay grew up in San Diego, California. From 1985-1990 she was involved in musical theater productions with San Diego County’s Christian Youth Theater and Christian Community Theater. At Grossmont High School she sang in the Red Robe Choir under the tutelage of Edwin Basilo, and she played in a folk band with her calculus Teacher Robert Ridgway, covering artists such as Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, the Indigo Girls, and the Beatles. She lived in New York City from 2001-2011, in Boston 2011-2014, and in 2014 moved to Rome to work at Confronti Magazine and conduct doctoral research on interfaith dialogue in Italy and the Middle East.

Lindsay started her career as an investigative fieldworker in 1998 in the Peruvian highlands, where she wrote about Andean woman’s rural lives and their use of religious symbols and rituals to order their lives. This fieldwork explored the field of ethnoastronomy with indigenous communities in Northern Peru, charting how locals syncretically combine naturistic Pachamama spirit imagery with imported Catholic images to interpret celestial phenomena such as constellations, eclipses, and weather patterns. In 2010 she lived for four months in Jogjakarta, Indonesia and conducted ethnographic research on Catholic/Muslim couples in Central Java. In Summer 2012 she was sponsored by the American Society for Psychological Anthropology to study intermarriage among Roman Jews.

In 2001 she received Commendations for Playwriting and Acting from the British National Student Drama Festival, and a recognition for Meritorious Contribution to Playwriting by the American College Theater Festival: Meritorious Contribution to Playwriting. In 2000 she received a Commendation for Excellent Drama Criticism from the British National Student Drama Festival.

Her music appears on a number of compilation albums: “Loving the Fair” is included on the Stanford University LGBTQ-CRC Center Compilation (September 2002). “Athena” is included on the SUNY Binghamton: Best Bands!, released by the SUNYB Activities Council (October 2002). “Red Shirt” is on Study Break: Best of Stanford Musicians, released by the Stanford Activities Council (April 2002). “Not a Sound (featuring Roland Marconi)” is on A Chance for Peace after 9/11, released by Educators for Social Justice (November 2002). “Close” is on the Waterbug Anthology 7, released out of Chicago by Waterbug music as an introductions to the Musicians affiliated with the label (July 2004). “Jill and Jill” is included on Marry Me, released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to support GLBT couples seeking to marry (November 2004). “White Room” is on the SBS Records #9 Sampler, a compilation put out by Musicians Michele Malone and Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, released nationally in September 2005. “I Am Not Going Home Yet” and “The Well” are included on I, Even I, Will Sing, a compilation of student Musicians from Union Theological Seminary (Spring 2011). In July 2006 Jenn Lindsay composed scores for two ten-minute industrial films for Price Waterhouse Coopers. In 2015 Confronti Magazine used her song “The Bird” from the album Allora Eccola in their short video about a demolished Palestinian home outside Bethlehem.

Between 2005-2008 Jenn Lindsay worked in the film and music industries as a Composer, film Editor and documentary filmmaker at MTV, the Sundance Channel, and several independent post-production facilities, serving as an Assistant Story Editor on the MTV reality show 8th and Ocean, Atmosphere Picture’s Trek Nation, a biographical documentary about Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. She worked as an Assistant Editor with Zak Tucker on The Garden (Harbor Pictures), previously known as Body & Soul by Swede Films. In 2016 she co-founded So Fare Productions in Rome with Sarah McTeigue and Kiersten Pilar Miller. In 2017 Jenn Lindsay was in production with two documentary projects. Minding Shadows tells the story of a Buddhist monk from Africa who survived the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and grew up to teach trauma healing to people around the world. Simulating Religion follows a group of computer Scientists and religion scholars using computer modeling and simulation to better understand the role of religion in terrorism and the refugee crisis.

Jenn Lindsay is a PhD Candidate in Religion and Society at Boston University. Her advisor is the prominent Sociologist Nancy Ammerman. She studied Interfaith Relations and Ecumenics (MDiv '11) at Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University in New York City, where in 2009 and 2010 she was co-chair of the Interfaith Caucus and the Chair of Student Activities. At Boston University, Jenn studies how religious difference affects personal relationships. Her current research on community-level interreligious activity is based in Rome, Italy. For her doctoral dissertation she conducted anthropological research comparing how interreligious dialogue works in Rome Italy and in the Middle East. InRome her fieldwork was based at the Roman intercultural magazine Confronti. She has also conducted extensive research on healing practices in Hindu and Christian Scientist communities in Boston. Her website reports that Jenn Lindsay “uses her research and films to encourage reflection about religion ‘outside the box,’ fostering interreligious collaboration and healthier human exchanges, and educating individuals and religious Leaders about the realities and demands of ‘street-level pluralism’ in increasingly diverse communities.”

Between 2010-2014 Jenn Lindsay was a member of the planning committee for the International Political Camp at Agape Centro Ecumenico, an ecumenical center in Northern Italy with roots in post-WWII peace movement. In July 2012 as a guest lecturer to the International Theological Camp to deliver a lecture entitled "Howard Thurman, Mysticism, and Social Action.”

Since 2011 Jenn Lindsay has been a featured Contributing Scholar of State of Formation, the online platform of the Journal of Inter-religious Studies. Lindsay’s frequent articles for articles for State of Formation explore religious, theological, social, and psychological themes. In July 2012 she was named Writer of the Month for an article she published about multiple religious belonging. Her piece on the election of Pope France was the site’s Featured Article of March 2013.

In July 2012 she headed a film team to produce a short film about the International Political Camp at Agape Centro Ecumenico http://vimeo.com/54736209, featuring interviews with community members, eco-activists, Scientists, and conference organizers, about environmental activism and the larger issue of grassroots activism and communities.

In Spring 2013 she was the Boston University Film Society’s Featured Lecturer for the “Religion and Film Series.”

In 2014 and 2015 Jenn Lindsay traveled throughout Palestine and Israel with journalists of Confronti magazine. These press tours were part of a partnership between Confronti and Holy Land Trust.

IBCSR: The Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion is a 52-minute feature documentary about the Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion in Boston. Lindsay uses documentary film techniques to explore and explain the Institute’s various research projects. Through scenes in research labs, interviews with research Scientists, explorations of the campus and surrounding city, and glimpses into religious communities in various locations, the film touches on many discussions. It broaches the scientific study of religion; interdisciplinary research; the complexity of “religion” as a study object; the dialogues between religion and science; the limits of science; and the value of scientific approaches to religious practice, communities, and human behavior.