Filmmakers with a Spiritual Sensibility
Roger Ingraham - A young filmmaker whose first feature went to the Sundance Film Festival. He's now turned his sights to spiritual cinema.
David Cherniack - "To date my career spans over 50 documentary films, all on diverse subjects, but, I think, all concerned in some way with peeling back the layers of illusion that separate us from reality. Doing films, for me, is not so much an art as a vehicle of exploration."
Mickey Lemle - the producer/director of Ram Dass: Fierce Grace.
Lo Pham - a spiritually oriented filmmaker.
Paradise Filmworks - Producers of Naked in Ashes, Origins of Yoga, and other films.
Empty Mind Films -- Jon Braeley of The Empty Mind and The Zen Mind films.
Blind Lyle Films - "Original fun, creative, unique, thought provoking films."
Yong-Kyun Bae - A South Korean painter and art professor who spent seven years making Why Has Bodhi-Darma Left for the East? Very slow, very Buddhist; a bit like walking meditation with a camera.
Spiritual Documentaries
Slow Down and Fast - a man determined to bring clarity to his life decides to spend thirty days alone in the woods while fasting. If you like the trailer for this short documentary, please order the film online through this link, and we will receive a portion of the proceeds.
Through the Eastern Gate - "a documentary film about the aspirations, practices and ways of life of three young Westerners who follow three different eastern spiritual traditions."
Flight from Death - "the most comprehensive and mind-blowing investigation of humankind's relationship with death ever captured on film."
Meditate and Destroy - Noah Levine, meditation teacher and author of Dharma Punx, shares how Buddhism led him from a path of self-destruction to one of insight.
Prison Sutras -- Currently out of print, this is the story of Fleet Maull, a practicing Buddhist who led a double life as a drug smuggler, went to prison and got really serious about his practice.
Into Great Silence - "One of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created, INTO GREAT SILENCE dissolves the border between screen and audience with a total immersion into the hush of monastic life."
Some links to the ill-defined world of spiritual cinema
The Hartely Film Foundation : their mission is "to produce, cultivate, support and distribute the very best documentary film, video and audio programs about world religions, spirituality, ethics and well-being."
The Spiritual Cinema Circle : membership delivers four movies a month.
The Institute for Spiritual Entertainment
Mysticalmovieguide.com : an extensive listing of movies, broken out by categories such as spiritual documentary, biographies, even comedy!
More Inspiration: some of my favorite spiritual films
Sun Valley: a spiritual film festival.
Damah Film Festival: dedicated to short films.
The European Spiritual Film Festival: has films available online.
Spirituality and Practice: a rather broad definition of "spiritual", yet you may find some interesting films.
Mystic Fire Video: an outstanding variety of movies sold here.
adherents.com/movies : a guide to faith-based movies.
The Arts and Faith 100 : 100 spiritually significant films -- leans toward Christianity.
