The saving of souls lies at the center of Saint Maud, the debut feature from filmmaker Rose Glass. What’s less clear is who exactly needs saving, and what they need saving from. Rose set out to explore just how vast this question can be, and in this zine, she asks: what does it mean to be saved? Issue 14: Salvation! is now available in the A24 Shop.

Soon after choosing ‘Salvation!’ as the focus for this zine, I realized I had made a mistake — it’s far too sprawling a theme for a few lighthearted pages! What does it even mean? Well, here are the official definitions...

SALVATION (n.)

1. preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss.

2. (Theology) deliverance from sin and its consequences, believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ.

Whilst I will touch on faith, I’d like to focus on the first definition in this zine. In this sense, faith is just one of many ways a person may be delivered from harm, ruin, or loss; whereas for another, it may be the very thing they need deliverance from. Absolutes and certainty are seductive yet deadly.

Do you need saving? What do you need saving from? In some cases the answer is clear. That’s the reason Maud became a nurse; it meant working in a field that unambiguously involves saving people, right? Mind and soul are a little harder to pin down, though I’ll give it a shot. Drawing on various individuals and phenomena as inspiration, I hope to offer the reader a hard-hitting and handy how-to guide for Salvation, in MIND, BODY, and SOUL... Long and short, do whatever you need to keep the abyss at bay!

- Rose Glass