View Our Winner for Best Spiritual Documentary
The films nominated for this year's Best Spiritual Documentary vary widely in tone, style, and subject matter. But each in its own unique way they documents humanity's shared desires—for peace, love, and truth.
As with all of the categories of the Beliefnet Film Awards (BFA), the judges had no trouble highlighting documentaries that truly touched and inspired them in some way. Click through this gallery to learn which film won both the Judges' Award and the People's Choice Award, voted on by you. Also watch videos and read about the other films nominated in this category. And the winner of the Best Spiritual Documentary of the Year is....
Text by Dilshad D. Ali.
Judges' Award Winner and People's Choice Award Winner: 'Lord Save Us From Your Followers'
Filmmaker Dan Merchant has one burning question: "Why is the ‘Gospel of Love' dividing America?" Merchant draws on a variety of film devices--from man-on-the-street commentary to animated shorts to exclusive interviews with controversial figures like black preacher-politican Al Sharpton, liberal evangelical Tony Campolo, and conservative radio host Michael Regan—in his search for answers to why Christian faith in America has come to be represented by divisive language and actions.
The film, says BFA judge Brandon Fibbs, helps Christians "to see what we really look like to those on the outside looking in. … Christianity, [Merchant] contends, is far more interested in the gospel of being right than the gospel of Jesus Christ." But if Christianity supposed to be built on the foundation of "loving the unlovable," then what does that say about the face of Christianity in America today?
For more on "Lord Save Us From Your Followers," read the Beliefnet Interview with Dan Merchant.
Watch Video: 'Lord Save Us From Your Followers'
'Trouble the Water'
Watch Video: 'Trouble the Water'
'Waltz with Bashir'
Watch Video: 'Waltz with Bashir'
'At the Death House Door'
Watch Video: 'At the Death House Door'
'U23D'
Though it may sound simplistic, the legendary rock gods of U2 have always held the belief that music really can change the world. And they bring this mantra to full, vibrant life in their documentary "U23D," which broke cinematic ground as the first three-dimensional concert film in movie history. The film, which shows concert footage from their 2005-06 Vertigo tour in Mexico City and Buenos Aires, Argentina, is way more than just a concert film. Says BFA judge Sharon Linnea, "Seeing crowds of people in many different countries whoop it up … for songs urging peaceful coexistence of religions, sustainability, and living a life of defiant love, gave me more hope than I'd had in a long time." Believing in a world where we can coexist in peace and harmony has never sounded or felt so good.
(Full disclosure: Sandy Climan, one of the film's executive producers, works as a consultant for Beliefnet.)