Diary of a Teenage Zealot

dir. Megan Liz Smith
2020
Running time: 13:45

Winner: Best Editing

Film

A diaristic self-portrait of a filmmaker’s ongoing crisis of faith, this film combines materials gathered both during and after her life in the Assemblies of God church, the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination. Featuring transparent confessions to the camera and eye-opening images from the past, the film examines the chasm religious identity can leave in the middle of families. As the director loses her faith, she struggles to reconcile the reality of her beliefs with the love she has for her family and friends, whose beliefs equate atheism with eternal damnation.        

Megan Liz

Smith

Megan Liz Smith is a journalist and camera person from Apple Valley, Minnesota. She has production assistant credits on Truth About Murder with Sunny Hostin and the Disney+ travel show Rouge Trip. Megan previously co-hosted a weekly business news podcast called Speaking Startup. Diary of a Teenage Zealot is her first film.