Masterworks

Seven years in the making, A Life Apart: Hasidism in America explores the world of modern Hasidism. From mystical tales to mesmerizing music, rebbes to Holocaust survivors, A Life Apart reveals a remarkable culture, full of joy, pain and rich tradition, that few outsiders have seen and fewer yet can imagine.

At the Death House Door follows the remarkable career journey of Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the death house chaplain to the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville, Texas. During that time he presided over 95 executions, including the very first lethal injection. After each execution, Pickett recorded an audiotape account of that fateful day.

Baraka is a breathtaking tour through six continents and 24 countries, which depicts the rhythms of man and nature and ways in which they live in harmony and violent discord. A glorious tone poem, the film cuts from solitary monks to crowded streets, from great temples and soaring landscapes to the dumps of Calcutta. The cumulative effect is moving, sobering and profoundly spiritual.

"You choose your way into yourselves," is a most apt description of how two widowers manage their lives in the years following their husbands' deaths on planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11. They end up traveling to Afghanistan, where they meet with Afghani widowers. Both sides reach easily across the cultural barriers to share their similarities and, far more frequently, the vast cultural differences and inequities that often bring discord but, between these women, bring peace.

The spiritual beliefs and religious experiences of dozens of religious leaders, luminaries and politicians are revealed in this engaging documentary. With myriad landscapes and religious icons serving as a backdrop, director Peter Bisanz focuses the camera in Beyond Our Differences on dynamic and thought-provoking individuals: Father Kieran Creagh, the first person to take the AIDS vaccine, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, religious scholar Karen Armstrong, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, Grand Mufti of Egypt, musician Peter Gabriel, Congressman Christopher Shays of CT, Mohammad Khatami, former President of Iran, Rabbi Soetendorp, Founder of the Jewish Institute for Human Values, and many others.

Bonhoeffer tells the gripping story of a pacifist turned assassin. This new much-talked-about documentary follows German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his student days in Weimar Germany to his work in the illegal Confessing Church, from his escape to America in 1939 to his return into the eye of the storm: the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. One of the most important theologians and ethicists of the 20th century, Bonhoeffer formulated his beliefs in the crucible of a long and ultimately fatal struggle with the Nazi regime.

Huston Smith, world religions scholar and holder of twelve honorary degrees, speaks of facing death in this intimate interview captured on film in August of 2006. In his advanced years, he attempts to answer the question: "What teachings from the great wisdom traditions sustain you at this very threshold of your own death?"

The striking visuals in the film Dharma River flow along the legendary rivers of Laos, Thailand and Burma. The camera weaves through Buddhist temples and mystical sites and the passing imagery transports the viewer to places of stunning beauty and spirituality that most will never see.

To reclaim an ancestral couch upon which Hasidic rebbes slept, Pearl Gluck travels from her Hasidic community in Brooklyn to her roots in Hungary. Along the way, she wrestles with the faith of her forebearers, their heartbreaking fate and extraordinary resilience, and finally, what it means to claim both one's tradition and one's independence.

A decade ago, the Inspector General in New Delhi, India, decided to undertake major reforms of the Indian prison system. She asked for advice on how best to go about it and found her answer inside the Tihar Prison through an ancient Indian system of meditation called Vipassana, which was rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2,500 years ago. Doing Time, Doing Vipassana is a very moving documentary that focuses on interviews with a number of Tihar Prison inmates as they experience life before, during and after a Vipassana course.

What was it we saw on Sept. 11th? And where, if one is a believer, was God? Indeed, if one is not a believer, did Sept. 11th make the idea of God more improbable? In Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero producer Helen Whitney interviews priests, rabbis, and Islamic scholars, victims' families and World Trade Center survivors, writers and thinkers, atheists and agnostics, about the questions that haven't gone away.

Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Through the experiences of five very level-headed, very Christian, very American families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child.

From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians presents the historical story of the rise of Christianity that upsets many traditional teachings. It is not a story of a golden age of consensus, but a story of people in conflict - wrestling with Judaism, confronting the authority of the Empire, and struggling among themselves to understand Jesus' message about the coming of God.

The stories found in the Book of Genesis captured our ancestors' imaginations more than three thousand years ago -- and still they fascinate us. In this unique 10-part series, Bill Moyers has gathered biblical scholars, writers, artists, psychotherapists, composers and lawyers together in conversation that is lively, intelligent, generous, illuminating and exciting as it probes what the Genesis stories say to us today. The programs feature dramatic readings from Genesis by actors Mandy Patinkin and Alfre Woodard.

Winner of the coveted Peabody Award, Heritage: Civilization and the Jews became a landmark television portrait of the Jewish experience. From the stony heights of Sinai to the shores of the Dead Sea, from a Greek amphitheater in Delphi to the Forum of ancient Rome, out of the ashes of concentration camps to the rebuilt cities and villages of Israel, the series shines a light on an ethic that pervades the cultures of Jews and non-Jews, and provides a deeper more resonant comprehension of the Jewish philosophy that is a foundation of Western civilization.

Home to Tibet is a rare view into the world of Tibet and its people. This film documents a Tibetan refugee's return to his occupied homeland for the first time since his escape 12 years earlier. There, he confronts his past, which involved training as a Buddhist monk, his country's past, his future, and his people's future. Stunning archival footage provides the historical context for this extraordinary human drama.

Across the USA, the struggle over sacred sites on public and private land continues for Native Americans of different tribes. This film portrait of land-use conflicts for three of those tribes, the Lakota of the Great Plains, the Hopi of the Four Corners area, and the Wintu of northern California, is hauntingly portrayed in In the Light of Reverence.

During the close to two-hour film Into Great Silence there is no dialogue, there is no musical score, and there is no artificial lighting. Rather, the creak of monastery floorboards and the shafts of sunlight through monastery windows suffice. Documentary filmmaker Philip Groning, with no crew, spent more than six months filming one of the world's most ascetic monasteries, where the monks live in silence. A spiritual voyage, Into Great Silence shadows the contemplative and joyful lives of these monks, who never sleep more than three hours at a time, eat in their individual cells with the exception of one Sunday meal, and follow a taxing day and night of prayer and work.

This award-winning documentary is based on the book Our Father Abraham: The Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith by Marvin R. Wilson, PhD, and includes lively interviews with close to forty Jewish and Christian scholars along with spontaneous commentary by lay people. The filmmakers gained access to numerous interfaith programs in action and, for example, the camera travels back and forth between a Seder and Good Friday service, underlining the textual similarities and differences in a visual way. As Gustav Niebuhr commented in The New York Times in a film review, difficult as it can be to accomplish, "...Jews & Christians: A Journey of Faith successfully turn[s] a scholarly work into film."

The first non-Italian elected pope since the fifteenth century is a powerful figure who has stood up to some of the strongest forces of the past 50 years. John Paul II has re-invigorated the church in many parts of the world, and defined himself by his opposition to many of the dominant secular ideologies and passions of our time. He is a man at war with the twentieth century.

The stereotype of Jehovah’s Witnesses: intimidating strangers who push their way into a home, to indoctrinate and convert.  That image was called into question with the release of the documentary, Knocking. Knocking delves deeply into the traditions, history and beliefs held by this religious sect. Filmmaker Joel Engardio focuses in part on the choice made by all Jehovah’s Witnesses to avoid any form of civic involvement; they do not vote, participate in war, or salute the flag. But they champion freedom of speech and other First Amendment rights, often through litigation. Knocking reveals that though Jehovah’s Witnesses are removed from the greater community, they contribute to society in their spirited defense of religious tolerance.

Prince Siddhartha's spiritual journey and transformation into the Buddha are envisioned and described in this film by local storytellers, religious scholars, monks and archeologists who roam the sites known to have been visited by the Buddha during his wanderings. Visually, it is a lovely film that captures the Buddha's life as the camera journeys along his path to enlightenment.

This portrait of the end of the South African Apartheid era provides a dramatic inside look at one of the most innovative and ambitious attempts at dialogue and healing in human history. Long Night's Journey into Day chronicles over a two and one-half-year period South Africa's quest for justice following the fall of the Apartheid government. For the many of the 7,000 individuals of either race who applied for amnesty, the process proved to be both very painful and very healing.

A monk of the austere Trappist order, world famous 20th-century religious philosopher Thomas Merton evolved into an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace.

The two-part documentary delves deeply into the tumultuous history of Mormonism, from the persecution of a few believers in the 1800s to the growth of a wealthy mainstream church. Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer and director Helen Whitney notes that The Mormons takes a balanced and well researched approach to Mormon beliefs. In "The Deseret Morning News," she commented: "I hope that most of the stereotypes, ideally, all of them, will be blown away. Because so many of them are just based on ignorance. Ignorance about Mormon history, ignorance about Mormon theology. Ignorance."

Journalist Asra Nomani, the central character in the newly released film Mosque in Morgantown, returns to Morgantown, West Virginia, with her son after living in Pakistan through the crisis involving the murder of her close friend journalist Daniel Pearl. Her campaign to stop intolerance and promote women's rights at her local mosque shines a light on issues faced by many in American Muslim communities, who wrestle with how best to affect social change, identify themselves as both Americans and Muslims and better understand Islam. The camera lens captures scenes in which Noman's confrontation on these issues brings results and scenes in which confrontation thwarts dialogue and understanding.

Fourteen hundred years ago, a humble merchant who could not read or write changed the face of Arabia. This is the story of the merchant, husband, father and warrior who Muslims consider the final prophet... the man whose legacy continues to shape their world today.

The events of September 11th left many Americans asking how such atrocities could be perpetrated in the name of religion: specifically, Islam. Award-winning producers Alvin H. Perlmutter and Anisa Mehdi take an in-depth look at what it means to be a Muslim in the 21st century. Filmed in Egypt, Malaysia, Iran, Turkey, Nigeria, and the United States, Muslims explores Islam's kinship with Christianity and Judaism in the sharing of prophets and principles, and seeks to illustrate the huge diversity of religious practices and interpretations of law that exist among Muslims themselves.

Persian filmmaker Aryana Farshad recently journeyed through Iran to film the great variety of ancient religious rituals still practiced deep within her native country. Over a period of nine months, Farshad filmed spiritual rites hidden for centuries from the outside world, from women's chambers in the great mosques, to a spontaneous fire ritual in a cave occupied by followers of Zarathustra and sacred dances performed by dervishes in the Kurdistan mountains.

Origin of Christianity is a compelling 10-episode series on the Christian faith viewed through the lens of history. The documentary series recounts the emergence of the religion between the years 30 AD and 150 AD, a historically obscure period. More than twenty international specialists in Christian history and literature examine the surviving New Testament texts that bore witness to the birth of Christianity, primarily the Epistles of the Apostle Paul and the Book of Acts. Riveting examination of these sacred texts is intercut with contemporary research regarding the origins of the Christian movement.

Intermarriage between individuals of different faiths is at the root of a family crisis in the Welbel family from Skokie, Illinois. Grandson Danny and his grandmother Leah have not spoken for six years as this poignant documentary begins. The issue that divides them is Danny's marriage to a non-Jew. Grandmother Leah is a Holocaust survivor who says: "If I allow this to happen, I feel like I betray my family... As a survivor, I paid the highest price for my Jewish faith. I paid it with blood and that reminds me, stick to your faith." This even-handed film engenders empathy for all family members, those who view intermarriage as a betrayal of family and faith and those who take a pluralistic approach to marriage, wrestling with the import of their decisions for their spouses and future children.

Forgiveness is at the forefront of scientific research conducted by healthcare specialists ranging from family therapists to neurologists. Forgiveness is a tenet of the major faith traditions. The intersection of science and religion on the subject of forgiveness inspired award-winning filmmaker Martin Doblmeier to conduct interviews with individuals ranging from Thich Nhat Hanh to Marianne Williamson and to travel the globe in search of powerful stories of forgiveness. Doblmeier also examines how the scientific community measures the physical and mental benefits of letting go of grief and resentment.

Promises, an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary in 2002, is a film about seven Palestinian and Israeli children that focuses on the Middle East conflict from a human rather than political perspective. The children in Promises are very articulate, humorous, hopeful and angry. Their chilling comments often echo adult sentiments about the Middle East chaos, but their views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are also often unique and incisive.

Filmmaker Mickey Lemle, who has known Ram Dass for more than twenty-five years, intersperses vivid, often hilariously funny archival footage from the hippie era with intimate glimpses of Ram Dass today, as he remakes his life after suffering a stroke five years ago, a process he calls "fierce grace." Named by NEWSWEEK as one of the Top Five Non-Fiction Films of 2002, Ram Dass: Fierce Grace is an engrossing poignant meditation on spirituality, consciousness, healing and the unexpected grace of aging.

Across the U.S., there is a growing interfaith call for environmental activism. Filmmakers Ostrow and Rockefeller have captured the efforts of numerous religious communities to "preserve what they see as God's creation." The producers film Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Jews, among others, actively tackling a range of environmental issues from sustainable farming to mountaintop removal.

Rumi: Poet of the Heart presents Coleman Barks, the preeminent contemporary translator of Rumi's poetry, Robert Bly, Deepak Chopra, Michael Meade, Huston Smith and others as they celebrate the earthy, joyous spiritual passion of Rumi's poetry.

The cult classic Salesman was the first full-length film that the pioneer documentary filmmakers the Maysles brothers released, and it follows four Irish-Catholic, door-to-door, Bible salesmen from the Boston area as they peddle their wares to working class customers in New England and parts of Florida. The most telling ethical dilemma in the film turns out not to be the transformation of the gospel into a commodity, but the realization that success in the marketplace requires the obliteration of self-respect, self-consciousness and self-criticism.

The director of this award-winning documentary wanders the globe on a five-year odyssey in search of individuals who continue to hope in the dark places of the world from Bhopal to Sarajevo to Kabul to Phnom Penh. The inspirational stories visualized over and over through the camera lens are a reminder of the resilience possible within each human being.

Father Paul O’Brien, a vibrant, young Harvard-educated Catholic priest, arrived in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 2001, to preside over St. Patrick Parish. This working-class, Roman Catholic Parish is located in the poorest town in the state. Filmmaker James Rutenbeck’s  documentary delves into the lives of a number of the parishioners as they struggle with issues ranging from ethnic tension to poverty, from generational friction to homosexuality, and unite to build a community center that feeds impoverished Lawrence residents three meals a day.   Rutenbeck succeeds in showing that a common faith can overcome personal, intergenerational and cultural obstacles to create a viable, thriving and cohesive community.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are considered by many to be "an evolutionary link" between Judaism and early Christianity. Exclusive access to new scientific data on the Dead Sea Scrolls and to the restoration process are at the center of this fascinating documentary. Experts from Russia chemically remove the scotch tape placed on the scrolls by 1950s researchers as they undertake the extremely delicate task of preservation. The film delves into how science has established the authorship of the Scrolls and determined the locale in which the manuscripts were written.

"I will bow and be simple. I will bow and be free." The maxim beautifully describes the aspirations of the Shaker community, a particularly American Christian movement in existence for more than 200 years. This documentary on the Shakers by award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns captures the creative and contemplative spirit of the Shakers as they go about their daily communal lives.

An unorthodox Benedictine nun with an unorthodox approach to alcohol and drug rehab runs the John Thomas Travis Center in the South Bronx, a halfway house named for the husband and sons in her life, dead from drugs and alcohol.

The voice of author, social activist, poet, and monk Thomas Merton, who died suddenly at the age of 53, resonates in the recently released documentary Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton. Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Atkinson traces Merton's spiritual path from boozy jazz clubs in New York to the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where Merton lived as a Trappist monk for close to 30 years. Soul Searching is a meditation on Merton's life as seen through the eyes of Merton's friends and Merton scholars. This film is an intimate portrait of this courageous and prescient man.

Burgundy, France, is home to Taize, an international ecumenical community founded more than six decades ago. Martin Doblmeier, director of the acclaimed film Bonhoeffer, captures the spiritual sharing of this international French community, which emphasizes simplicity of living. The hundred brothers of Taize fulfill that way of life despite being surrounded by thousands of young adults from throughout the world who find their way to Taize each year in a pilgrimage of prayer and reflection.

This "vast body of legal, mythic and philosophical texts, this mixture of religious commentary and debate, of history and science, and of anecdote and humor"comes alive as the film follows Jewish community migration through six centuries. The Talmud survives numerous book burnings and morphs over time from an oral history to a published work, with interpretation of the Torah text as it is written and rewritten. Talmud focuses on the history behind the questioning methodology of the Talmud, interspersed with lively biographies of major Talmud scholars such as Maimonides.

Legend has it that an 80-year-old sage, Lao-Tzu, was encouraged to write down his wisdom by a border guard standing at China's western gate. Taoism: Essential Teachings of the Way and Its Power is a comprehensive introduction to the origins and philosophical beliefs of Taoism, the religion that Lao-Tzu founded more than 2,000 years ago. Lao-Tzu's writings are considered the "most enduring" sacred text in China and an "effortless philosophy for living."

A murder trial recently took place at the mouth of the Amazon River.  The victim, Sister Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old Catholic nun from Dayton, Ohio, was shot six times at point-blank range. The events that led up to her death and the subsequent trials, revealed a larger battle being waged for the future of the rainforest.

Thomas Berry considered himself a “geologian,” a term he used to define a scholar of the earth and its evolutionary processes.  His faith and teachings combined spirituality and ecology and he was a monk, a cultural historian, an author, a teacher and a mystic. He gently reminded the world that“we are not a collection of objects but a communion of subjects. "  Berry believed that a viable future for the human community "rests largely upon a new relationship between human communities and the planet we dwell on."

This Academy Award-winning 1966 documentary follows a white, middle-class church in Omaha, Nebraska, struggling to reach out to the African American population in that city. Some eagerly seek to cross the racial divide while others view the challenge with trepidation. Still others think the time is not right.

A groundbreaking cinematic portrait of gay Orthodox and Hasidic Jews who struggle to reconcile their faith and their sexual orientation.

Trust Me Shalom, Salaam, Peace, is a funny, inspiring and deeply moving film about overcoming prejudices and fears at an interfaith summer camp.

A visually stunning four-year search through the breathtaking Tibetan landscape ends in a village hut. There, a baby is selected to undergo a lengthy and fascinating process to see if he is the true reincarnation of an internationally known Tibetan master. The master's devoted disciple Tenzin Zopa is chosen to search for this child and the camera follows Tenzin Zopa on an entrancing and very spiritual journey into a remote and traditional part of this world.

In What Do You Believe? The religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Pagan, Native American, and Jewish teens share their most personal struggles and beliefs about faith, morality, suffering and death, prayer, the purpose of life, and the divine.  These articulate teenagers are diverse and delightful and the viewer gains a broad picture of the religious and spiritual lives of American youth.

Scientists and visionaries merge spirituality with science in the groundbreaking film as they illustrate the many ways in which quantum physics and neuroscience showcase a new understanding of spirituality.