Hunter sent an e-mail to Russell in June 2007, explaining that he wanted to make a short documentary about the personal and spiritual challenges of same-sex marriage. The finished product, he said, would be submitted to an international documentary project that would broadly address the meaning of citizenship.
Russell, 54, was accustomed to interview requests in her role as president of Integrity USA, an advocacy group for gay and transgender Episcopalians. She had few qualms about sharing the details of her personal story to further her cause.
With a command of Christian theology and a fearless streak, she had become a national emblem in the struggle for gay equality in the Episcopal Church, a spiky-haired priest in a clerical collar who turned up on CNN and such news programs as ABC's "Good Morning America."
A few weeks after Hunter's e-mail arrived, Russell agreed to meet him in her office at All Saints.
"That first meeting was about getting my foot in the door and letting her know I was for real," Hunter recalled.
By August 2007, Russell was sitting through several hours of interviews and camera shots at the church. That material -- indeed, the priest herself -- would become the heart of Hunter's 19-minute film, "The Constant Process," which also features family pictures, including a snapshot of a smiling Russell and her ex-husband on their wedding day, cutting their cake.
In the film, Russell tells how, after college, she settled into a privileged life in Ventura with her banker husband and two young sons. There was tennis and sailing and a golden retriever at home.
But Russell felt strangely agitated.
"I had this sense that I had everything I ever wanted, you know, this really blessed life, and then I had this imploding thought in my head. . . . Is that enough?" she says in the film. "I look back on that moment as the beginning of my spiritual U-turn."
Russell felt a call to the ministry. As she grew more spiritual, however, her marriage deteriorated.
The turning point came during a religious conference on the East Coast, where Russell met a woman who also was struggling with a troubled relationship, in her case with a female partner.
Russell and her new friend talked at length about their lives. When the woman asked if Russell might be gay, Russell answered, "I'm quite sure I'm not gay."
But the question weighed on her. Why hadn't she ever entertained the possibility? Was there something inherently wrong with being gay?
