Love Kolbe?

Contribute to a crowdfunding campaign to bring Triumph of the Heart to a theater in your community!

Launch a local campaign. Crowdfund $1,500. Buyout the theater. Go to the theater opening weekend.

We want to buyout 1,000 theaters on opening weekend, September 11th-14th.

0

1

local crowdfunding campaigns in progress

theater booked

49

days to go

Contribute to a crowdfunding campaign in your area today to help us reach our goal!

Join us in blazing a new trail for Catholic cinema.

Why theater buyouts?

This film was made outside the system—no studio backing, no big marketing budget—just a story worth telling and people willing to take a leap of faith. But theaters hesitate to take risks on small Catholic films—unless we can show there’s real demand. That’s why we’re doing something bold:

We’re asking you to buyout the theater first.
We will prove there is demand and more screens will follow. More people will see the story. And the impact will grow.

It sounds crazy—but it works. Here’s how:

01.

Community leader launches crowdfunding campaign

Want the film to show near you? Step forward to become a host for $259 and launch your own local campaign. As the host, you’ll get 15 tickets to your screening if your campaign succeeds (as well as any extra tickets if there are unclaimed seats!).

02.

Share your campaign page and rally your community to raise $1,500. Everyone who contributes $17 will receive a ticket to the screening if the campaign is fully funded! If the campaign doesn’t reach the goal, you will be able to opt to Give Forward your tickets or receive a refund.

Community rallies to crowdfund $1,500

03.

Community goes to the theater on opening weekend

Once your campaign raises $1,500 (the average cost to buyout a theater), we’ll secure your theater for opening weekend and send you the details and your ticket(s)!

Once we book a theater buyout for a particular theater, the chances of that theater giving us more screens for the rest of opening weekend goes up! Your campaign is the key to making that happen.

AS SEEN ON

Give Forward funds will be used to give screenings to:

PRIESTS | SEMINARIANS | RELIGIOUS | STUDENTS | MISSIONARIES

Some of the people who need this film the most are on the Church’s frontlines: priests, missionaries, and religious who have given everything for Christ. We’re partnering with seminaries, vocation offices, religious orders, and missionary groups to offer them free screenings using funds from our Give Forward pool.

We will also be using Give Forward funds to offer screenings to students. Many young people today are lost and need Christ—we will be partnering with schools and youth groups around the country to bring the film to our youth.

“Deeply powerful. Unflinching. Brilliantly written and acted.”

— MATT WALSH, THE DAILY WIRE

“I’m sobbing as I write this. I simultaneously wanted it to be over and didn’t want it to end.”

— MIKE AQUILINA, AUTHOR OF “THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH”

"The dominant artistic technique in Triumph of the Heart is like a Caravaggio masterpiece reemerging after 500 years.”

— EMILY MALLOY, THE FEDERALIST

WHAT YOU GUYS ARE SAYING

About the Film

Triumph of the Heart is based on the true story of the heroic sacrifice of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Most stories about St. Kolbe end when he volunteers to take the place of a prisoner in an Auschwitz hunger cell. Our story starts there. In Triumph of the Heart, St. Kolbe joins nine condemned men in a starvation bunker and fights to forge a brotherhood of hope in the darkest place on earth.

RELEASE DATE

September 12th, 2025

WRITER & DIRECTOR

Anthony D’Ambrosio

PRODUCER

Cecilia Stevenson

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Andrew Holzschuh

The Cast

  • Headshot of Marcin Kwasny

    Marcin Kwasny

    St. Maximilian Kolbe

  • Headshot of Rowan Polonski

    Rowan Polonski

    Albert

  • Headshot of Christopher Sherwood

    Christopher Sherwood

    Karl Fritzsch

  • Headshot of Sharon Oliphant

    Sharon Oliphant

    Franziska

WRITER AND DIRECTOR’S STORY

I lost my faith
and wanted to die.

  • I got sick. An undiagnosed medical condition destroyed my life. I couldn’t sleep. My relationship ended. I could barely hold down my job. And worst of all, there was no cure—no end in sight.

    The darkness closed in, and I lost my faith. I didn’t want to live anymore.

    But then I remembered Kolbe.

    St. Maximilian Kolbe was a priest, a writer, and a Catholic friar. During World War II, he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz for his vocal opposition to the ideologies of the day.

    He watched as 10 men were condemned to die in the starvation bunker—a brutal death sentence. When one man cried out, “My wife, my children!” Kolbe stepped forward and offered his own life in exchange.

    I kept coming back to that starvation bunker—the place where Kolbe chose to love in the face of unimaginable suffering. I thought about how he forged a brotherhood in that darkness, how he transformed despair into hope. Slowly, a light began to break through.

    Kolbe’s story gave me a way forward, and this film is my way of sharing that light with the world.

    In an age that runs from pain and avoids the cost of love, Kolbe shows us another way. He is a saint for our time—and his story is one we all need to hear.

    -Anthony D’Ambrosio

This Isn’t Just a Movie

Hollywood controls the culture, and it doesn’t want stories like this to succeed. Triumph of the Heart is a grassroots movement. No studio. No stars. Just the truth, on screen. By backing this film, you're proving great Catholic stories can still reach the world—and helping to build a model others can follow.

What’s Next

If Triumph of the Heart succeeds, this will be the beginning of something extraordinary. We plan to launch a new production company to help other Catholic creators do what we did: Make daring, theologically rich films. Stay outside the system. Reach the people who need them.

St. Maximilian Kolbe,
Pray for Us

 FAQs

  • Because we’re independent. No studio backing. No celebrity names. Buying out every seat in a theater proves demand—and secures showings that are not otherwise guaranteed.

  • Because not all theaters will carry our film on opening weekend and the ones that will currently don’t have tickets up for sale. If you want to guarantee our film will come to your city, buying out a theater right now is the best way to do that. Then, when the theater sees there’s demand in your city, they will likely open up more screens for others to come see the film.

  • We don’t know yet. It depends on which campaigns hit their goals. If you want Triumph of the Heart near you, start or support a local campaign.

  • As soon as your campaign reaches its goal of $1,500, our distributor will reach out to a theater in your area to secure the screening. Screenings will happen opening weekend (September 11–14, 2025).

  • You can sell or give your ticket(s) to a friend. Your ticket(s) will be sent directly to you, so it will be your responsibility to give them to someone else if you are unable to make your screening.

  • To priests, seminarians, missionaries, students, and religious. We’re coordinating with dioceses, vocations offices, schools, and religious orders nationwide.

  • You’ll be given the option to Give Forward your tickets or request a refund. If you Give Forward your tickets, your contribution will go into our national pool of tickets for Give Forward recipients (priests, seminarians, religious, missionaries, and students).

  • A host is the main point of contact for their screening. First, they kick-off their own campaign by paying $259 (they will receive 15 tickets if their campaign succeeds). Once their campaign is live, they will spread the word and rally support to reach the $1,500 goal. Once their campaign reaches it’s goal, we will reach out to discuss details about their screening. Then we handle booking the theater.