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Trade and hometown coverage of Heathens ahead of its world premiere at the United Nations Association Film Festival on October 24, 2026, and the LA run that follows.

The Deadline article page with the Heathens trailer

DeadlineOctober 8, 2026Matthew Carey

Non-believers defy their religious backgrounds, resolving “to reclaim their lives.”

Deadline broke the trailer and the full fall run: the UNAFF world premiere, USC, the Laemmle NoHo theatrical week, the San Francisco screening with Congressman Jared Huffman, and the Center for Inquiry Los Angeles date. The piece also notes the executive producers, two-time Oscar nominee Rebecca Cammisa with Brad Feld and Amy Batchelor, and why the trailer carries footage from Charlottesville, fifteen minutes from the camp where the film begins.

Read the Deadline exclusive
The Filmybuff review of the Heathens trailer

FilmybuffOctober 9, 2026Filmybuff Desk

A documentary that is fierce about politics but tender about people.

A critic’s read on the trailer, and on what honesty might cost the five people in it. The review credits the trailer’s restraint, the warmth and nerves of the retreat rather than the wreckage back home, calls the Charlottesville footage “impossible to ignore,” and points to the 84 million religious “Nones” as an audience that rarely sees itself on screen.

“It promises a coming-out story, but for belief rather than sexuality.”

Filmybuff, on the trailer
Read the review
Allen, a former Southern Baptist pastor, in Heathens

Palo Alto OnlineThe AlmanacHeather Zimmerman

Talking openly was a game changer for five “heathens.”

The hometown feature ahead of the premiere, with an interview with David Cowan and Shawn Hardin on why they turned the camera on rural and small-town America, what happened at a private screening in upstate New York when a third of the room said the film was about their lives, and the question the film puts to the faithful.

“How would Jesus treat these heathens? How are you going to treat these heathens?”

David Cowan, in the interview
Read the feature

From the coverage

  • Allen in Heathens

    Allen, a Southern Baptist pastor, talks about becoming an atheist.

  • Darante in Heathens

    Darante on joining a fundamentalist church in his youth, and finding a happier family outside it.

  • Sarah in Heathens

    Sarah on beginning to question her faith when she went away to school.

Also covered

Press inquiries

Covering the film?

Screeners, interviews with the filmmakers and participants, stills and the one sheet are available on request.

Directed and produced by
David Cowan and Shawn Hardin
Running time
87 minutes
World premiere
UNAFF, Palo Alto, October 24, 2026