This is POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of
Wisconsin Public Television's Director's Cut.
Tonight, we bring you a film
that the Hollywood Reporter calls
'provocatively and poetically rife with contradiction'
in "The Gospel of Eureka."
Eureka Springs, Arkansas provides the backdrop
for this film and a controversial history.
Just outside this small town are the remnants
of a religious theme park that was never completed,
except for an outdoor amphitheater where every year
a group of devout Christians perform the Passion Play.
Right down the road is Eureka Live Underground,
a drag bar owned by the first gay couple in the area
to be married by a Baptist preacher.
This couple also happen to be devout Christians.
As it turns out, Eureka Springs is home to
a sizable population of both gays and evangelical Christians.
They all take the stage tonight to break down stereotypes
by way of performance, political activism and unity.
Co-directors Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher
premiered their film at the South by Southwest Film Festival
in Austin, Texas in 2018
and the film is narrated by Broadway performer
and transgender artist Justin Vivian Bond.
Tonight love, faith and civil rights collide
in this outlandish and poignant documentary.
It's "The Gospel of Eureka" and it starts now
on Wisconsin Public Television, your home for independent film.