"Love Wins When We're Together": The Documentary Film "Lessons of Love" was screened in Sochi

A special screening of Hieromonk Seraphim's documentary film "Lessons of Love" was held in Sochi at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow." The film was included in the program of the XXI Vladimir Menshov International Film Festival "Won Together", which concluded in September 2026 in Moscow and Sochi.

The audience included church parishioners, mothers with children from the “Unexpected Joy” social crisis center shelter, ministers of the Sisterhood of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, employees of the People's Bakery and People's Sewing Workshop, and participants of the Territory of Development center for mothers. 

- Where Christian love is embodied every day in real service to others, the film about family, faith, and mercy resonates especially deeply, - the organizers noted.

Before the screening, Hieromonk Seraphim (Alexei Solodovnikov) spoke about the film's creation and its protagonist, Archimandrite Georgy (Shestun), a priest, scholar, thinker, and monk. Through his life, the director reflects on the very nature of love.

The title "Lessons of Love" is simple, but it demands a great deal of inner work from the viewer. The authors depict love not as a fleeting feeling, but as a long-life journey: the love of husband and wife, the love of brothers and sisters, spiritual fatherhood, service to others, and, ultimately, a person's love for God.

The film is composed of unique footage shot over several years and interviews. Its five chapters - "The Assistant," "The Call," "Monasticism," "The Spiritual Father," and "Eternal Life" - constitute a leisurely, intimate conversation about fidelity, calling, sacrifice, and the kind of love that asks for nothing in return.

- A family is not preserved by fine words about values, but by love, loyalty, and a willingness to take responsibility for those whom God has entrusted to a person, - noted Archpriest Alexander Kopyrin, rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow."

He emphasized how important it was that the film was seen in a blessed place, “where love for God cannot be separated from love for one’s neighbor, from the ability to see someone else’s pain, to support them, and not to pass them by”.

Archpriest Alexander Kopyrin is the head of the Department of Church Charity and Social Services of the Sochi Diocese, chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Mutual Aid Fund of the Sochi Diocese, founder of the multifunctional social crisis center "Unexpected Joy," and a member of the Public Council of the Sochi City Police Department, which provides support and assistance to mothers with children in difficult life circumstances.

The film "Lessons of Love" was selected for the National Competition of the "Won Together" Film Festival, but its path to Sochi audiences proved difficult.

- Hieromonk Seraphim was unable to fly out of Samara for two days. However, in his own words, having received a blessing from above, he didn't give up and presented his work in person, - the film festival organizers said.

After the final credits rolled, no one was in a hurry to leave. The audience shared their impressions, discussing family, faith, and life's trials. The official film screening naturally evolved into a warm, intimate, heart-to-heart conversation. This is precisely what Viktor Komissarenko, co-chair of the "Won Together" jury, member of the World Peoples Assembly, and Chairman of the Public Council at the Sochi Department of Internal Affairs, told Sochi News:

- Documentary film can not only preserve historical memory but also unite people around timeless moral values. And perhaps one of the most important human victories is to never lose the ability to love, believe, serve others, and stay by their side when others are struggling. The screening gave the festival's motto a very simple and profound meaning: love wins when we are together.

As a reminder, the XXI Vladimir Menshov International Film Festival "Won Together" was part of the Second World Public Assembly "New World: Values That Unite", which took place in Moscow in September.

The organizers of the film festival are the World Peoples Assembly, the Administration of the City of Sochi, the Production Centre «Integration», the Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio and the Company «Intellectual Resource», with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

Partners: The Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation, the Regional Cinema Support Fund, the Project «KinoShkola», RUDN University’s Sochi Institute, the IRIAS Creative Industries Development Center, The Foundation “Remembrance of victories”.

Media partners: Publishing House «Argumenty i Fakty», OTR, MIR, RTR television channels: «Vesti Sochi», «InterMedia» News Agency, «Sochinews», «Kultura.rf», «Literaturnaya Gazeta», «Utro.ru», IPQuorum, «Rabotniki TV», «History Network», Moviestart.

Additional information is available on the official website of the World Peoples Assembly, on its VKontakte and Telegram accounts, and at media@world-assembly.org.