The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies hosted a screening of the Oscar-winning film “Sinners” and panel discussion with Yvonne Chireau, the African religious consultant for the movie, at the Witherspoon Student Center on April 2.
Seth Gaiters and Marcelitte Failla, assistant professors in the department of philosophy and religious studies, facilitated the post-screening question and answer session and contributed their own expertise to the discussion.
“Sinners,” written and directed by Ryan Coogler, is a 2025 movie that has undoubtedly left an impression on the world of cinema. A vampire horror film set in Mississippi in the era of Jim Crow and sharecropping, the movie follows twins Smoke and Stack, both played by Michael B. Jordan, who have recently returned to their community and set out to start their own business.
The twins buy an old saw mill and work the whole getting it set up for a massive gathering, featuring gambling, dancing and drinking, for Black folks to get a taste of joy and freedom. The movie is a celebration of blues music and Black culture, epitomized by the iconic montage of Black dancers and musicians from across decades and the world, set to Miles Caton’s “I Lied To You.”
The film then veers into horror, as an Irish vampire infiltrates the party and starts picking off members, promising eternal freedom and unity. Smoke, Stack and their family fight to survive until sunrise, and there is no shortage of gory battles and epic music numbers.
Though the vampire premise might seem shallow or out-of-place to some, it is deeply rooted in the spiritual beliefs of African Americans at that time. As the name implies, the movie centers around religion. Smoke’s lover Annie is the anchor to non-Christian spirituality, seen practicing Hoodoo and using her knowledge to defend against the vampires.
Chireau is not regularly a film consultant, but rather a recently retired academic. She was approached to help on “Sinners” as an expert in historical African American religious practices, including the complex and often mystified Hoodoo practice. She wrote the leading text on Hoodoo and Conjuring tradition, and how they influenced African American culture and spirituality.
Hoodoo was developed over centuries among enslaved African communities in the United States, a combination of religious knowledge from continental Africa, North American indigenous knowledge of plants and Christian elements like Psalms.
Hoodoo is not something regularly represented in film as anything serious or nuanced, but the religion has vast historical depth. Chireau said she was initially skeptical of the movie as a big-budget project and horror film, certain that it would fall into the common trap of Hollywood representation.
“These traditions of Hoodoo and Conjuring, these African American spiritual traditions, have been exploited in the media,” Chireau said. “There are very few films that I think of that get it right.”
After her family pushed her to consider the job, Chireau spoke with Coogler and was told the story from the writer’s mouth. From that point, she realized the vision for the movie was grounded in accurate and meaningful storytelling, rather than gratuitous violence.
“This really isn’t horror,” Chireau said. “It’s really about the ancestors. It’s really about how music, how art can bring the ancestors to life, and this is something that, in the African American tradition, is the most important part.”
Much of Chireau’s consulting was in regards to the character Annie, who was intended to be an accurate historical representation of a Conjure Woman, a pillar of spirituality in formerly enslaved communities.
“The Conjure Woman was the healer. She probably was as vital as the Black Christian preacher, particularly within enslaved communities, and she was powerful in her own quiet way,” Chireau said.
Chireau worked with British-Nigerian actress Wunmi Mosaku to develop Annie, doing their best to reconstruct an accurate portrayal of how a woman of her class and occupation would behave.
Annie is shown running a Hoodoo shop and practicing rootwork, creating and blessing a mojo bag to protect Smoke. She casts bones to seek insight and is the first to figure out what the vampires are and how to defeat them. Her spirituality is not only a character motivation, but also a powerful tool and asset to the group.
“Sinners” was extremely successful both at the box office and among audiences. It garnered a record-breaking 16 nominations at the 98th Academy Awards, and ended up taking home best actor, best original screenplay, best score and best cinematography. It grossed $370.1 million worldwide and has continued to create conversation about blues, Christianity and Black history in America.
The auditorium in Witherspoon was filled with students, staff and faculty set up with popcorn for a lively screening. From a show of hands, a majority of the theater had already seen the film once, if not multiple times, though there were some fresh-faced audience members.
Questions for Chireau ranged in topic, from the technical work behind the movie to the modern resurgence of Hoodoo. There were also questions about broader religious studies and the nuances of Black religious culture.
“Sinners” portrays Christianity and Hoodoo as dialectic forces, but they are historically intertwined. Gaiters, who teaches courses in African American religion and diaspora, said Black religious practices were always undefined and expansive.
“Religious traditions are not discreet and pure categories over and against another, right? They are porous, and so there is a very complex conversation that’s going on between differing religious traditions,” Gaiters said. “When we’re talking about the landscape of Black religious life, it’s all really connected.”
The question and answer panel shifted towards discussion, with both NC State professors offering insight and Chireau inviting audience members to share more. She said she was always happy to interact with audiences and see the impact of the film, which brought historical Black traditions to life.
“I’m really, really happy that it’s won all the prizes, but more so that it authentically represented an important spiritual aspect, a historical aspect of African American culture,” Chireau said.
