indieWIRE invited all of the directors in the U.S. dramatic and documentary competition to participate in an email interview as a way of introducing them to our readers. Kirby Dick’s documentary, “Twist of Faith,” follows one victim of clergy sex abuse on his journey to healing after he discovers that his alleged abuser lives in his neighborhood.

Please tell us about yourself and include as much of the following information as you feel comfortable with:

Day job (if you have one) and former jobs.
I was a backup forest fire fighter in Arizona one summer.

Where you were born?
I was born in Phoenix and grew up in Tucson. I now live in Los Angeles.

Did you go to film school?
Yes, the AFI, and before that I went to Cal Arts.

How did you finance your own film?
Through HBO, who have been wonderful to work with.

What are your biggest creative influences (this could include other
filmmakers or films)?
Fassbinder, Jean Rouch, Warhol, the Cinema Verite filmmakers.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in either developing the project or making the movie?
One of the moments during production that personalized the film for me was when we tried to set up an interview with the new Bishop of Toledo who had been recently appointed by the Vatican.

Unlike the previous Bishop, who had been dogged by controversy regarding abuses that occurred on his watch, this new Bishop seemed untainted by the scandal. We were interested in getting his perspective on how he might approach the issue more humanely. We agreed on a time for an interview, and my producer, Eddie Schmidt, and I flew out to Toledo, hired a crew, and spent an hour and a half setting up the interview outside his office. Moments before we were to begin, his press liason came up to us and told us he was canceling the interview – it just didn’t “feel right”.

We waited around for another hour and he finally agreed to meet with us – then told us with a completely straight face that he had never heard about the project until the day prior. I thought my producer would fall out of his chair – the woman from the diocese was holding his letter in her hand, which explained exactly who we were and what we were doing. She had even told us that the Bishop himself had reviewed that initial request. Throughout the short discussion, he never apologized in any way.

It was in that moment, when we were face to face with the Bishop, we finally understood, in some small way, the power and the arrogance of the church hierarchy that survivors of sex abuse have had to confront for decades. And what was so ironic and sad was that two years earlier the subject of our film, "Tony Comes," was lied to by the previous Bishop in that very same office, and it was the discovery of that lie which compelled Tony to decide to confront the church. Now, we were experiencing ourselves that same kind of dissimulation – and it compelled us to do everything we could to get this film seen by as many people as possible.

What are some of your favorite films, and why? What was your top ten list
for 2004?
I liked "Spotless Mind", "Dogville", and "Notre Musique."