
Twist of Faith (2004)
A man confronts the trauma of past sexual abuse as a boy by a Catholic priest only to find his decision shatters his relationships with his family, community and faith.
A man confronts the trauma of past sexual abuse as a boy by a Catholic priest only to find his decision shatters his relationships with his family, community and faith.
After being denied access to the Church of Scientology's headquarters, documentarian Louis Theroux teams up with ex-Scientology official Marty Rathbun to stage re-enactments of alleged abuses within the organization. Theroux soon discovers that the church is watching his every move.
In this authoritative documentary, director Pierre-Henry Salfati traces the history of the Talmud the repository of millennia of Jewish wisdom. In doing so, he posits the question: What comprises this cardinal text of Judaism? Originally passed down orally from master to student, the Talmud is the hidden face of the Torah, or Old Testament. It is a vast body of legal, mythic, and philosophical texts, and a mixture of religious commentary and debate, of history and science, and of anecdote and humor. No other text has had such an influence on Jewish life as it details the principles, ethical codes, and laws that serve as a guide for conduct. In addition to an exhaustive exploration of the Talmud, the film also guides the viewer through the history of Jewish communities, concluding with present-day New York.
Since 2000, a woman among women upset the world and its inhabitants. This is probably the most popular woman on the planet. It is the origin of the largest global gatherings, performs miracles by thousands, calls for centuries undisputed scientific, multiplies his appearances lately, save secrets to illiterate children cry icons and transmits apocalyptic messages who wants to hear them. His name Mary. Filiation: the three religions of the book. A Jewish woman asked by Muslims. A goddess for Hindus, the Mother of God for Christians, a final appeal to the unbelievers.
Marias is a film about the feminine. Visiting the celebrations of the Virgin Mary's (Marias) from Brasil, Cuba, México, Peru and Nicarágua, the director Joana Mariani observes the similarities and disparities among their cultures, and listen to women who have their very particular stories about life, faith and devotion. The result is a very singular film that shows that the image of the Virgin Mary (Maria) is a lot more than a religious figure or the mother of Christ.
The mountains of Oaxaca harbor the remains of a ravaged and burnt shelter, once home to a psychoanalyst priest who used it to look after savage children, trying to re-integrate them into society. Through videotape diaries and interviews, the truth of what happened is shockingly revealed.
The inside story of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein reveals how, over decades, he acquired and protected his power even when scandal threatened to engulf him. Former colleagues and accusers detail the method and consequences of his alleged abuse, hoping for justice and also to inspire change.
The story of The Satanic Temple, a controversial movement that combines religion and activism with the apparent purpose of questioning the basic foundations of US society.
"The Moscow Pilgrims" is a film that takes you on a tour of Russia’s ancient capital. The film’s main characters – father and son – are doing the most intersting sights of old Moscow, including the Simonov Monastery, the New Spassky Cloister and the Krutitsky Church located on a picturesque bank of the Moskva River. The celibate priest Ilia, the dean of the church of the Holy Mother of God father Vladimir and other priests will help the pilgrims and visitors to see the world of Moscow’s ancient holy sites: the burial-vault of the noble Romanov family, the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of God recently cleared from security services, and the graves of the Kulikovo battle heroes, the monks Oslyabi and Peresvet.
The Church of the Resurrection of Christ located in the Moscow district Sokolniki is one of the most remarkable churches in Moscow. Built a few years before the revolution, it has a history that reflects the fate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century. Its walls remember the First World War and two revolutions, the confiscation of church treasures and the restoration of the patriarchate. The film features the builder and first dean of the church of Resurrection, father Johann Kedrov who was persecuted and exiled under the Soviet regime. The parishioners of the church will always remember this man.
Academy Award®–winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
The Quran is the Holy Book of Islam, a religion shared by more than a billion followers worldwide. For the Muslim tradition, since its revelation to the Prophet Muhammad between the year 610 and 632 of the Christian era in Mecca and Medina, the Koran is immutable, and has remained maintained. However, recent discoveries of Koranic manuscripts analyzed by scientists, dated around the year 680 - the oldest known in the world - revealed that the Koran has a history. During the first century of Islam, and before the canonical version of the Caliph Uthman imposed itself, the holy book of Islam would have known competing versions, a different organization of the suras, variable readings due to a writing, in its beginnings, very rudimentary… It is to this meeting of knowledge, at the crossroads between the Muslim tradition and scientific research, that this journey to the origins of the Koran invites.
La Corne d'or is mostly concerned with religious ritual, examining the mosque (and former cathedral) discussed in Byzance. As a contrast against Istanbul's status as a center of historical religious conflict, Pialat — drawing here on texts by the French poet Gérard de Nerval — also describes the city as a place of strange ethnic and religious harmony, with representatives of various cultures and religions living in close contact. He emphasizes the city's hybrid culture, its blend of Southern European and Arab influences, reflected in both its people and its very construction.
Digging through the vast collection of his father's home videos, a young man reconstructs the unthinkable story of his boyhood and exposes vile abuse passed through generations.
What started out as an inside joke amongst two self proclaimed weirdos in Ft. Worth, Texas soon becomes much more than they bargained for. Frustrated by the rising consumer-driven culture, out-of-work pals Douglass St. Clair Smith and Steve Wilcox decide to turn their conservative southern ideology on its head and invent a new religion all their own. Spurred on by the overreach of religion and zealous televangelists of the day, the pair concoct religious monikers (Reverend Ivan Stang and Dr. Philo Drummond), a newly minted prophet (J.R. "Bob" Dobbs), and devise a crusade to expose the conspiracy of normalcy by using humor as the ultimate weapon.
Two Bangladeshi girls born and raised in London have weddings arranged for them against their will by their family. Shahanara, the rebel of the family, banished from the family in her teens for being "too Western", has to swap her pink hot pants for a sari as she goes off to the airport to meet her new Bangladeshi husband. Her sister Hushnara is the opposite of Shahanara; a devout Muslim who agrees to marry so she doesn't upset her parents.
Interlocking interviews of 4 women interred in various Magdalene asylums and/or orphanages because of out-of-wedlock pregnancies, being sexually assaulted, or just being "too pretty".
From the legendary times of Romulus and Remus to the present day, the compelling story of the eternal city's twenty-five centuries of civilization traces the rise of Christianity over paganism through studies of Vatican art treasures.
Stretching along the river Ganges rests Varanasi, the holiest of India’s seven sacred cities, and a place where devout Hindus go to die in hopes of achieving moksha - becoming liberated from the cycle of rebirth. Hindu scriptures say that a soul has to undergo 8.4 million rebirths before reaching the human form, the only form one can attain moksha, and dying in Varanasi and being cremated along the banks of the river is believed to be the ideal way of achieving this. Several so-called ‘death hotels’ exist to accommodate believers who abandon their lives and come here in wait for death - some for as long as 40 years.
J. Golden Kimball, one of the most colorful LDS General Authorities, peppered his popular sermons with "damn" and "hell," words left over from his cowboy days. It was his candor and originality, however, that endeared him to Church members and made him a folk hero. Hear some of his best stories in a one-man show performed by his great-grandnephew, Jim Kimball.