Special Witnesses of Christ(2000)

American Jesus(en)

AMERICAN JESUS is an exploration of Christianity in every faction of American Life, from the breadline to the yoga studio, from the humble churches of snake handlers to the mega churches in the ex-urbs. Christian cowboys, bikers and musicians, comedians, surfers and cage-fighters, they are all doing it for Christ. Aram Garriga travels from his native Barcelona to the politically divided United States to chronicle the sometimes bizarre relationship between faith, materialism, politics and personal passions in this uniquely American tableaux. Populated by an array of religious and secular characters offering candid, often illuminating testimonials, AMERICAN JESUS is a vivid mosaic of personalities and conflicting points of view that emerges as a portrait of an America yearning for solace and meaning in the modern world.

The Exclusive Brethren(en)

Documentary on the religious group - The Exclusive Brethren, a cult part of the Christian evangelical movement.

Come In(en)

"Come In" explores how Morse history is entangled with the history of the Spiritualist church. The Spiritualist Church was founded by the Fox sisters in 1850. They claimed that they were mediums who could communicate with the dead and they justified this ability by citing the new ability, through Morse, to speak with someone far away almost instantaneously. After fifty years of practicing Spiritualism, the sisters declared the religion a hoax, and many years later Morse code officially lost its role in the commercial realm. As Spiritualists continue to send messages to the dead in spite of the sisters’ statements, and Morse operators transmit messages into the ether with hope, Johnson asks: How do communication networks and technologies affect our calls and responses and make visible our desire for reciprocity?

The Michelangelo Code: Lost Secrets of the Sistine Chapel(en)

Art critic Waldemar Januszczak is on the quest to explain exactly what the Sistine Chapel's ceiling is actually trying to tell us.

Le silence(fr)

From the 1950s to the 1980s, Catholic priests committed numerous sexual abuses on young boys in several French-speaking villages in New Brunswick. Brought to light when the victims were in their fifties, these scandals sparked shock and indignation in the media and the public. Why have affected communities chosen secrecy over justice and truth for so long? Taking advantage of their influence to impose a "pious silence" on their parishioners, several figures of authority have built a veritable structure of abuse that testifies as much to the oppressions specific to the Acadian populations as to the systemic denial of the Catholic Church. Challenged by the power of collective silence, seasoned filmmaker Renée Blanchar seeks to unravel the root causes by going out to meet the survivors.

Kidneys for Jesus(en)

The Jesus Christians are unusually committed to their faith. They give up everything they own - including, now, their spare kidneys. For a year, journalist Jon Ronson has exclusively followed the group as they attempt to donate their kidneys to strangers in the UK and the US. But who should they give them to? Where can they advertise? Will the hospitals, the media, and the potential recipients see their gesture as a miracle, or as the self-destructive act of a controversial religious movement? Presented by Jon Ronson.

Minor(id)

Vena, a Catholic, lives in the Muslim-majority region Aceh. Vena wears veil in her daily life and befriends many Muslim friends. Nevertheless, how can she be herself and adapt as a minority at the same time? Family plays an important role in her life.

Púlpito e Parlamento: Evangélicos na Política(pt)

From a small family from the outskirts of São Paulo to the National Congress, a documentary about how political discourse is born, grows and is founded among evangelicals.

Na Metodovom stolci(sk)

King of the Jews(en)

King of the Jews is a film about anti-Semitism and transcendence. Utilizing Hollywood movies, 1950's educational films, personal home movies and religious films, the filmmaker depicts his childhood fear of Jesus Christ. These childhood recollections are a point of departure for larger issues such as the roots of Christian anti-Semitism.

The Object(en)

Documentary about three men from Kentucky who claim to have discovered an Old Testament relic for 69-cents at a Madison, Tennessee Goodwill superstore. The men believe that they have found the mysterious Urim and Thummim in the form of a stone cup that allows its users to communicate with God and see visions.

Iran: The Hundred Year War(fr)

What kind of world power is Iran becoming, and how will Western countries deal with it?

I Was Possessed by God(en)

On Valentine's Day, 1993, Caveh Zahedi decided to ingest 5 grams (a very large dose) of hallucinogenic mushrooms. For the first time in his mushroom-taking history, he had an experience of "divine possession," in which he felt that a divine being took possession of his body and spoke through him, in a voice that was not his, and with knowledge that he himself did not possess. He later tried several times to repeat the experience. I WAS POSSESSED BY GOD is the documentary record of one such attempt.

J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and The Church of the SubGenius(en)

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.

Nos Passos do Mestre(pt)

Ritos Populares: Umbanda no Brasil(pt)

A documentary based on the book Umbanda no Brasil by the scholar Mata e Silva, who is interviewed by the director. The book studies the Brazilian religion known as spiritism, a syncretism of African beliefs and magical rites, Indian beliefs and images, and Catholic symbols.

Gods of Molenbeek(fi)

The district of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in Brussels has become world-famous as a center of jihadism, but for six-year-old Aatos and his friend Amine, it is a familiar home. Here, they listen to spiders, discover black holes, and fight about what is going to steer a flying carpet. Together they search for the answers to life's big questions. But the brutality of the adult world makes itself known when terrorists detonate a bomb in the neighborhood. Aaatos envies Amine's Muslim faith and looks for his own gods, although his classmate Flo questions him; she is strongly convinced that anyone who believes in God is completely nuts. Gods of Molenbeek is a wonderful portrayal of childhood friendship, inquiry and the creation of meaning in a chaotic time.

Religulous(en)

Commentator-comic Bill Maher plays devil's advocate with religion as he talks to believers about their faith. Traveling around the world, Maher examines the tenets of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and raises questions about homosexuality, proof of Christ's existence, Jewish Sabbath laws, violent Muslim extremists.

The God Who Wasn't There(en)

Did Jesus exist? This film starts with that question, then goes on to examine Christianity as a whole.

The Woman Pastor(en)

In a community of a Muslim majority, the first woman pastor in the Middle East leads a parish in one of the poorest city of the Mediterranean, in the heart of Tripoli, North Lebanon.