Bleak. That is the word that immediately comes to mind when watching Larisa Sheptiko’s The Ascent. The snowfields stretch into eternity with an equally monochrome sky above. Trees break up the landscape, their bare branches and thin trunks providing only an illusion of shelter. Across Read More …
Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991) remains one of the most spiritually rich and visually poetic films in American cinema. Set in 1902 among the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina, the film follows the Peazant family as Read More …
The gospel is often called the living word. This phrase directly references the use of the word logos in the Gospel of John, and the notion of Jesus Christ as “the Word made flesh.” It’s meant to show that the gospel narrative charting the birth, Read More …
The act of creating art is a human partaking in the Divine Creation. The artist reveals a part of their soul and of the subject’s soul, as well as sharing in the glory of God’s creation. It is unfortunate then that non-male artists have been Read More …
The process of watching Moses and Aaron (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 1975) can be a frustrating one. Adapting an opera by Arnold Schönberg, this movie refuses, for half of its runtime, to move. The narrative is one of the most dramatic (and most often-adapted) Read More …
“Throw your lovin’ arms around me So my enemies cannot harm me Oh Lord, Oh Lord, I’m in your hand, in your hand”* Go back to that church in Mississippi. See its open faces. Hear its voices of peace. Touch its simple walls. Taste the Read More …
Vagabond begins with a shot of the French countryside — a peaceful, agrarian image of a farmer plowing his field in the foreground while another man burns sticks in the background. The tranquil scene is soundtracked by a foreboding piece of music from the film’s Read More …
The story and significance of Hypocrites is best told in the context of its maker, writer and director Lois Weber. Weber first began working in the film industry in 1907 (under fellow Arts & Faith nominee Alice Guy-Blaché no less). In the ensuing years, she Read More …
Most films about faith are rooted in at least one book. While Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, a graphic memoir published in several volumes throughout the early 2000s, is not a holy text itself, it does contain lessons, stories, and cautionary tales about faith. In its examination Read More …
As created beings, the children of human parents and our Heavenly Father, we each have a strong desire to be independent and also to reside within relationship. How are we unique? To what extent do we reflect our makers? During childhood this questioning is rooted Read More …