By Andi Stark
In an era when much of the global film industry is shaped by algorithmic optimisation and franchise logic, Theatre of Life Productions represents a deliberate alternative. Founded by director, writer, and producer Nicholas Rooney, the company operates according to a clear artistic philosophy: cinema as a moral, aesthetic, and spiritual act. Its guiding principles—classicism, beauty, faith, and tradition—inform not only the subjects of its films, but also their form.
Rooney’s path into cinema was neither conventional nor accidental. Before filmmaking, he studied Latin and Greek, philosophy, and international relations, and later worked as a diplomat in Vienna, where he was involved in work on the Ukraine crisis at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). That experience—engaging daily with history as it unfolded—left a lasting mark on his creative outlook.
From Diplomacy to Testimony
Rooney’s transition from diplomacy to cinema found its first major expression in The Pillars of Heaven. Shot during a solitary journey across Ukraine between Christmas Eve and Epiphany, the film observes a country in spiritual and political dislocation with restraint rather than spectacle. The documentary received international recognition, including the In the Spirit of Dialogue Award at the Religion Today Film Festival in 2018, and established Rooney’s reputation for work that translates geopolitical conflict into human and metaphysical inquiry.
“I was never chasing prizes,” Rooney has said. “I was trying to make sense of the silence between the gunfire.”
That attention to silence—what history leaves unresolved—has since become central to Theatre of Life Productions’ identity.
Award-Winning Independent Cinema
Subsequent projects have reinforced both the artistic coherence and critical standing of Rooney’s work. A Father’s Sacrifice, a historical short film marked by emotional restraint and visual classicism, received several international distinctions, including Best Short Historical Film at WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival (2020) and an Honourable Mention at Hollywood New Directors (2020). The film exemplifies Rooney’s approach: historical storytelling grounded in moral seriousness and reverence for tradition.
The Wolf in the Moonlight, part of Rooney’s ongoing exploration of Russia–West relations, further expanded this reputation. The film won Best Biographical Documentary and Best Director of a Documentary Film at the New Generation Film Festival in 2021. Drawing on Russian intellectual and spiritual traditions, it examines alienation, ideology, and the fracture between civilisations with uncommon philosophical depth.
Rooney’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Rape of Lucrece, titled Guilty Rebel, pushes formal boundaries still further. Narrated using archival recordings of Richard Burton and filmed in a 13th-century Italian castle, the work blends poetry, music, and image into a cinematic form shaped by reverence for language and history rather than contemporary convention.
As Rooney puts it, “Cinema is not a commodity. It is testimony.”
A Classical and Spiritual Vision
What distinguishes Theatre of Life Productions is not only independence from prevailing market incentives, but fidelity to a particular artistic lineage. The company consciously follows the model of the timeless artist, drawing inspiration from the Bible, the world of antiquity, profound historical events, and enduring literary masterpieces—while allowing occasional influence from Rooney’s background in diplomacy and geopolitics.
This religious and artistic dimension is not ornamental. Faith, beauty, and tradition are treated as structuring principles, informing narrative rhythm, visual composition, and thematic focus. In a cultural climate often uneasy with transcendence, Rooney’s films insist on its necessity.
Independence as Ethical Strategy
Theatre of Life Productions operates independently by design. Rooney has chosen to make his films directly available through platforms such as Vimeo, Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play, prioritising access and authorship over scale. This model reflects a broader shift among independent filmmakers responding to shrinking theatrical windows and increasingly risk-averse commissioning structures, but in Rooney’s case it is underpinned by conviction rather than expediency.
His work resists both commercial simplification and ideological reduction. Independence, here, is not withdrawal from the world, but a disciplined engagement with it.
Continuing the Conversation
Rooney is currently in post-production on The Careless Tomb, the third part of his documentary trilogy examining the evolving relationship between Russia and the West. The project continues his long-standing interest in historical memory, spiritual inheritance, and civilisational misunderstanding—concerns that run consistently through his body of work.
Alongside this, he is developing an adaptation of Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych, a project that returns explicitly to questions of mortality, grace, and moral awakening.
Why This Work Matters
In a culture saturated with immediacy and noise, Theatre of Life Productions insists on reflection. Its films do not offer escape, nor do they resolve easily. They ask audiences to confront history without spectacle, suffering without sentimentality, and beauty without irony.
Nicholas Rooney’s cinema does not reject the modern world—it challenges it to remember what it has forgotten. And in an industry increasingly shaped by speed and amnesia, that commitment to memory, faith, and artistic tradition is not marginal. It is quietly radical.
