The Greater L.A. Skeptics Meetup Group

For our Feed Your Brain event Sunday, November 15, CFI West will screen the film Heathens, a new documentary from David Cowan and Shawn Hardin.

Five Americans arrive as strangers at a secluded retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains — many without their families' knowledge — seeking respite from the guilt, shame, fear, and loneliness of hiding who they are. Each has quietly rejected the religion that raised them, now fearing the cost of honesty: family, security, livelihood. They are not alone. Over 80 million American adults hide their religious disbelief or exaggerate their faith. By the end of the weekend, the five non-believers resolve to reclaim their lives, forging a friendship that carries them through the storms awaiting them back home. In this warm, funny, and unexpectedly joyful story, they rebuild community, inspired by the gospel music of home, reclaiming the slur “heathen” as a proud new identity. For the first time in their lives, five Heathens discover who they truly are.

"I found it moving, even shocking."
Richard Dawkins

"…a powerful new documentary that explores the hidden world of Americans who privately question the faith they were raised in."
SMARTCINE

“A documentary that is fierce about politics but tender about people."
FILMYBUFF

David Cowan is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and science philanthropist whose work explores the intersection of belief, truth, and discovery. A member of the DGA and PGA, he is a 2026 News & Documentary Emmy nominee for Outstanding Short Documentary as producer of HEIST, and the creator and producer of the award-winning MTV documentary Afghan Dreamers. He serves on the boards of the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Center for Inquiry, and brings a storyteller's eye and a scientist's skepticism to Heathens, his feature directorial debut.

Shawn Hardin is a filmmaker, DGA director, and former Television Academy governor whose work spans documentary, narrative, and interactive storytelling. A graduate of USC Cinema-Television, he has directed, produced, shot, and edited more than seventy projects for NBC, MTV, Columbia TriStar, and 20th Century Fox, with independent films screening at the American Film Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and festivals worldwide. He co-founded the Producers Guild of America's New Media Council and later founded OnlySky, serving America's religiously unaffiliated. As co-director of Heathens, he brings a lifelong fascination with belief, identity, and reinvention to the screen.