Oh Be a Fine Girl Kiss Me

At the end of the 19th century, the Vatican summoned four nuns to map a portion of the sky for the ambitious Map of the Heavens project: the nuns thus became ‘computers’.

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2025

Science Fiction

History

Documentary

Overview

A soul waits to be reincarnated while reflecting back on her past life as a nun, who worked at the Vatican Astronomical Observatory in early-20th century. There, she took part in the “Carte du Ciel” — an ambitious international project to map the night sky, earning the early title of “computer” as a result of processing repetitive calculations. Disillusioned with her previous existence, she considers becoming a coder in her next life, amidst the wave of economic optimism awaiting her reincarnation in 1990s Portugal. Shot on 16mm film and smartphone, "Oh Be a Fine Girl Kiss Me" blends historical fiction and autobiography in a meditation on life’s choices and constraints, as well as on the systems and categories that shaped modernity.

Directed by Alice Dos Reis