I'm Harlene Stein. I'm a writer/producer. I read Craig Monson’s book, DISEMBODIED VOICES, and felt an instant connection with Lucrezia Vizzana, a 17th century nun who lived most of her life in the convent Santa Cristina, in the city of Bologna. I optioned Craig's book to write a screenplay on her life, but as I wrote I realized I knew so little about her. So I decided to go to Bologna. I went with my friend, Vince. We took a camera and I was able to record so much about her. We visited the convent which still exists. We interviewed famous historians as Gabriella Zarri, Gianna Pomata, Count Guglielmo Zannini. We spoke with the famous orchestral conductor, Gillian Anderson and the opera conductor, Nicoletta Conti. We interviewed the singer/conductor Candace Smith and filmed her Cappella Artemisia singing Lucrezia’s music. We spoke with Raffaella Lamberti, the president of Orlando Women, an international group of liberated women who will be taking over the convent for their headquarters. She was our angel in Bologna and arranged for us to film at the convent and many other places which we would never have even known about.

We shot 14 hours of film and managed to document so many things about Lucrezia--the convent, the life of women at that time, the part the Catholic church played in their lives. Things which had never been put on film before. And so we decided to make a documentary.

This was also an interesting and exciting time for me, for as I learned more about Lucrezia, I realized how closely our lives paralleled each other. In looking for Lucezia, I found myself.

Looking for Lucrezia is available for foreign and domestic distribution.