The Common Sense Farm(2006)

American Crusaders(en)

Documentary - A harrowing exploration of the rapid rise of American religious fanaticism after 9/11. This film explores an emerging ultra Right Wing mass movement seeking dominion over all aspects of contemporary American society. The film weaves archival video, contemporary Christian Nationalist movement propaganda (recruiting videos, apocalyptic/military videogame imagery, etc.) and original investigative material) to create an intense examination of the totalistic mindset and its will to power.

The Cult Next Door(en)

A short documentary featuring a brief overview of Bill Gothard's ministries, and some of the consequences for his followers.

Far from the Trees(es)

An unprejudiced portrait of Spanish folklore and a crude analysis in black and white of its intimate relationship with atavism and superstition, with violence and pain, with blood and death; a story of terror, a journey to the most sinister and ancestral Spain; the one that lived far from the most visited tourist destinations, from the economic miracle and unstoppable progress, relentlessly promoted by the Franco regime during the sixties.

Jesus Camp(en)

Jesus Camp is a Christian summer camp where children hone their "prophetic gifts" and are schooled in how to "take back America for Christ". The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future.

Aliens from Spaceship Earth(en)

While the aliens in this film may seem to be quite human, one must realize that we're dealing with close encounters of the fourth kind. An inner space journey triggered by the drug culture and rebellion of the 1960s, and the non-violent search for self that continues among people in today's culture. Could this be due to some influence from a higher spiritual consciousness? The world's alien leaders are well represented in this film: Baba Muktananda, Swami Satchidananda, A. C. Bhaktivedanta, Guru Maharaj Ji, Yoga Bhahan, Sri Sathya, Sai Baba, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Father Yod, Baba Ram Das, and well-known personalities who present their views on seeking their own terrestrial individuality.

Homotherapy: A Religious Sickness(fr)

In 2019, some still consider homosexuality as a disease that needs to be cured. Focusing on movements with roots in the United States, which draw on both religion and psychiatry to justify so-called conversion therapies, an investigation into the devastating consequences of certain practices that seem to successfully avoid any control by European public authorities.

Radikale Christen und ihr Griff nach der Macht?(de)

The Da Vinci Code: The Greatest Story Ever Sold(en)

After Dan Brown's publishing phenomenon The Da Vinci Code was cleared of plagiarism charges, this documentary explores the climate which has permitted a fictional story to make such an effective challenge to conventional history that it has forced a counter-attack from the Church, the art world and academics. Has Brown cracked the most difficult code of all our 21st-century cultural DNA?

Stronger Than a Bullet(en)

Iran, January 16th, 1979. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees after being overthrown. Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Tehran and proclaims the Islamic Republic on April 1st, 1979. In the same year, Saddam Hussein seizes power in Iraq and, after several border skirmishes, attacks Iran on September 22nd, 1980, initiating a cruel war that will last eight years. Since its outbreak, correspondent Saeid Sadeghi documented it from its beginning to its bitter end.

The Survivalists(en)

This documentary talks to women training with machine guns, to undergraduates taking courses in How to Stay Alive, to retired generals who run schools for mercenary killers, and to self-appointed clergy who say their native America has "gone soft on the Devil and the Reds" and has become a "Disneyland for Dummies".

The Forbidden Reel(en)

According to the official history of Afghanistan, ruthless destruction has always prevailed over art and creation; but there is another tale to be told, the forgotten account of a diverse and progressive country, seen through the lens of innovative filmmakers, a story that survives thanks to a few brave Afghans, a small but very passionate group that secretly fought to save a huge film archive that was constantly menaced by war and religious fanaticism.

Vote Jesus: The Chronicles of Ken Stevenson(en)

A notorious political satirist conceals his identity and poses as a political candidate.

The Community(es)

The fuzzy boundaries between sanity and insanity in an isolated Christian group come to light when one of its members dies in strange circumstances. Since then, a harsh judicial process jeopardizes their fate as a group. A story about faith and social prejudices.

Into These Hills: The Hunt for Eric Rudolph(en)

At age 29, Eric Rudolph was the perpetrator of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, which occurred on July 27, 1996, during the 1996 Summer Olympics. He called the police, warning about the bomb before it detonated. The blast killed spectator Alice Hawthorne and wounded 111 others. Law enforcement officials implement one of the largest manhunts in US history in their search for bomber Eric Rudolph. Host WRAL News anchor Jim Payne and the WRAL Documentary unit travel to western NC for a look inside the investigation, the impact of the search on the local community and the various fringe groups that might sympathize with the fugitive. “Into These Hills” originally aired April 24, 1999.

Thy Kingdom Come ... Thy Will Be Done(en)

No one would accuse director Anthony Thomas of presenting an unbiased view of religious fundamentalism in this film, which won a Special Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Intent on exposing what he perceives to be a dangerous connection between the religious and political right, Thomas interviews born-again Christians and then directs his lens on Heritage USA, the religious complex established by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.

Tourisme religieux, un marché sacré(fr)

Cult Killer(en)

On January 7th 2005, 29 year old Rick Rodriguez murdered his former nanny and then killed himself on a lonely desert highway. Hours earlier he had videoed his suicide note and this final message provided a remarkable insight into a deeply damaged life. It also lifted the lid on one of the most notorious religious cults to emerge out of the 1960s counter culture: The Children of God sect.

Salman Rushdie: Death on a Trail(fr)

An intimate portrait, in his own words, of the Indian writer Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses (1988), thirty years after the fatwa uttered by the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini: his youth in multicultural Bombay, his life in England, his many years of forced hiding, his thoughts on President Trump's United States of America.

El Palmar de Troya(es)

On March 30, 1968, four 12 and 13-year-old girls claimed that the Virgin Mary had appeared on the Alcaparrosa estate, one kilometer from the village of El Palmar de Troya, in the province of Seville. Weeks later, several neighbors affirmed that they had seen other appearances and in the summer of that same year an altar was built that would be the first stone of the Palmarian Christian church. In June 2018, Ginés, the last Pope of El Palmar de Troya, and his wife assaulted, with brawl included, the congregation’s facilities. Scandals, the shadow of sexual abuse, unlikely anecdotes and all kinds of accusations have marked the more than 50 years of this religious congregation to which some consider church and many others a great sect.

The Source Family(en)

A feature documentary film set in Hollywood, examining a radical experiment in '70s utopian living. The Source Family were the darlings of the Sunset Strip until their communal living, outsider ideals and spiritual leader Father Yod's 13 wives became an issue with local authorities. They fled to Hawaii, leading to their dramatic demise.