The Island is a 2006 Russian biographical film about a 20th century Eastern Orthodox monk. Pyotr Mamonov, who plays the lead character, formerly a rock musician in the USSR, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in the 1990s and lives now in an isolated village.
Film director Pavel Lungin said about him that “to a large extent, he played himself.”
Mamonov was first very hesitant to play in the film, but then was urged by his confessor to play the character. After the filming, one of the movie crew staff decided to stay on the island and live there as a hermit. Source
(Note: While the majority of the films I post for “movie nights” are in the public domain, or otherwise freely offered, this one is not. However, I am offering it here as it is not widely known or easily found. I neither screen it for money nor offer it for downloading and would be happy to remove it at the request of the filmmakers.)
