MILWAUKEE- Filmmaker Ryan White has gained notoriety for his work on the Netflix original documentary The Keepers. The documentary details the unsolved case of Sister Cathy Cesnik’s murder, a Roman Catholic nun who taught at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland. In an interview for the Wisconsin Gazette White speaks about the documentary and its relationship to faith.
Gregg Shapiro at the Wisconsin Gazette spoke to White:
Almost 50 years after Roman Catholic nun Catherine Cesnik was murdered in Baltimore, there are still many unanswered questions about her death.
Those questions are explored by gay filmmaker Ryan White, who directs the seven-episode Netflix original The Keepers.
I spoke with White in May.
Wisconsin Gazette: Were you raised Catholic?
Ryan White: Yes, I was. Very Catholic. I had a very positive experience in the Catholic church. It was the center of my life growing up and in high school. I was a Eucharistic minister. I actually look back fondly on my experiences with the Catholic Church.
Did you feel any trepidation about what was to become The Keepers’ subject matter?
I’m surrounded by Catholics. I’m from a big Catholic family. We watched Spotlight come out, too. I felt like the Catholics in my life were excited about the truth coming out in those kinds of stories. The Keepers is about bringing the truth to light. I would hope that any church would be supportive of that, especially their own parishioners telling their truths about harm that may have come to them within the church. Of course, everybody wants to hear the truth. It wasn’t until I started working with the Archdiocese of Baltimore on the documentary that I felt the resistance. My blinders got ripped off about how my church operates.
Read more at the Wisconsin Gazette.
