The 2026 edition of OtherMovie Lugano in Switzerland registered over 1,200 attendees at the events and three sold-out screenings. The fifteenth edition of the festival, held April 17-25 focused on the theme of change.

The winning film, “God As My Witness,” directed by Tabernash filmmaker Lindsay Pitre, tackled the delicate issue of sexual abuse, one of the central themes of the event.

“The film was awarded for its incisive investigation into the testimonies of victims and the institutional responsibilities within the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans,” the festival said in an April 28 news release. “The jury, chaired by Matteo Balsamo, praised the film for its stylistic solidity, effective editing, and careful photography, calling it a universal appeal for justice.”

The 82-minute film received honors throughout its year-long festival run. At both Tallgrass Film Festival and New Orleans Film Festival, it won the audience award for Best Feature Documentary. At the Japan Indies Film Festival in Tokyo, it was recognized as the Best International Feature Documentary. The film won Best Documentary at the Winter Park Film Festival in September after its premiere in June 2025 at London’s Raindance Film Festival.

“Being featured and then winning in Switzerland was an honor, but it also brings to light the subject we covered so it remains an international issue,” Pitre said. “At the end of this festival run, I personally feel like I’m very much a part of the bigger message.”

The message, to Pitre, means bringing awareness about and helping to prevent child sexual abuse.

The story centers around Scot Brandner’s abuse by Brian Highfill, a Catholic priest in New Orleans. Brandner never told anyone about the abuse and ultimately committed suicide at the age of 29. In 2018, his brother Michael Brandner Sr. discovered love letters to Scot from Highfill, but was dismissed when he presented them to the Catholic archbishop of New Orleans.

After hearing the Brandner family’s story, as well as other abuse stories reported by the Guardian and local New Orleans news station WWL-TV, Pitre knew there was a larger story to tell. Drawing on her background in journalism, she initially wanted to work behind the scenes as a co-producer and interviewer.

She offered the director role to filmmaker friends John Alexander and JC Guest, who hired her to co-produce their 2018 film “This Is Love.” Instead, they encouraged her to take the lead. Pitre had never directed a movie before, but willingly accepted the challenge, recruiting Brandner Sr. as her executive producer.

“The documentary, its participants, and those brave survivors will always be a part of my life, and in some sense, the experience of this entire project was the cornerstone of how I conduct myself as a director in this industry: giving space and grace to every individual’s story,” she told Sky-Hi News. “As of this moment, it looks like the film will be on a streaming platform this summer. Which one? I can’t say yet, but we have a distributor working on bringing this to as many eyes and ears as possible to keep this message alive.”

Looking ahead, Pitre has new projects on her schedule. One is a narrative feature written by director Max Train, who she met at Raindance Film Festival, where “God As My Witness” made its world premiere. Another is a documentary featuring a well-known sporting event which takes place every four years, although Pitre says she can’t share any more details than that at this time.