Higher Ground (2011) is a U.S. drama film starring Vera Farmiga. The film is also Farmiga’s directorial debut. The film deals with the main character’s struggle to keep her faith and spirituality in a religiously tight-knit community. Higher Ground is loosely based on the memoir This Dark World: A Story of Faith Found and Lost by author Carolyn Briggs, who co-wrote the screenplay. Filming took place in June 2010 in Kingston, New York. The film premiered in January 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival and will be released in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics on August 26, 2011.