Dr. Mathew Fox, is the author of 28 books, including Original Blessing, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths, and A Spirituality Named Compassion and for 34 years was a member of the Dominican Order. He is the recipient of the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award putting him in the distinctive company of the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa and Rosa Parks as previous award winners. He believes that by "reinventing work, education and worship we can bring about a non-violent revolution on our planet.”
Quote:“At this critical time in human and planetary history, when the earth is being ravaged by the violence of war, poverty, sexism, homophobia, and eco-destruction, we need to gather those who offer a future that is one of compassion, creativity, and justice to speak their conscience as never before. Religion ought to be part of the solution, not the problem.” His 95 theses call for a New Reformation, a radical transformation that will allow us to move once again from the hollow trappings of organized religion to genuine spirituality.
Websites: www.matthewfox.org and www.thecosmicmass.org.
Dr. Nathan Katz founded the Center for the Study of Spirituality at Florida International University to explore the vast but largely ignored field of "secular
spirituality.''
He is considered a recognized expert in the fields of Indo-Judaic Studies, South Asian religions; Judaism; Buddhism in India, Tibet, Sri Lanka; and the Jews of India. He is also the author of several books, including Who Are the Jews of India?, and Kashrut, Caste and Kabbalah: The Religious Life of the Jews of Cochin, which he co-authored with Ellen Goldberg.
Raised in a traditional Jewish household, he has been an Orthodox Jew, a former Sufi dervish, a Tibetan Buddhist yogi and a friend of the Dalai Lama.
Quote: "When we try to understand spirituality, we must learn to see it two ways in order to make sense of it—from the "objective," secular viewpoint of the scholar, as well as from the traditional viewpoint... from without and from within, as it were. Students in the field live this polarity, and it is a creative tension capable of generating fine intellectual work."
Websites: www.indojudaic.com and Spirituality Center
Sharon Janis is an accomplished filmmaker, author, speaker, musician, and owner of Night Lotus Productions, which creates documentaries and other videos and films with the intention of bringing light to the world through creative works. After living a decade of monastic ashram life, producing and editing hundreds of videos for the worldwide web of Siddha Yoga devotees and students, Sharon moved to Hollywood for a diverse television and film career, producing and editing some of the most popular television shows of the 1990’s, winning many awards, and working with such notables as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alan Funt, Charlie Rose, Suze Orman, Jane Velez-Mitchell, and many others. Sharon is the author of several popular books, including Spirituality for Dummies and Secrets of Spiritual Happiness.
Quote:"Bringing intelligent, authentic, and entertaining spiritual media to today's world is especially important and challenging, because we are competing with popular "junk food" films and shows with ten- or hundred-million-dollar budgets, big blockbuster stars, extraordinary special effects, and subliminal plot twists, music, and design elements that are intended to lock the viewer's attention on the screen, without regard for what positive or negative impressions and information their attention is being fed. The call and quest of spiritual filmmakers is to supply mentally, spiritually, and emotionally delicious and nutritious media meals that will help uplift our world, screen by screen, and viewer by viewer."
Website: www.nightlotus.com.
Stephen Crisman has produced more than 90 hours of documentaries over the past decade and has received numerous awards and coveted nominations from the film industry. Crisman received Emmy nominations for his documentary special, "Lotteries," which he produced for A&E television, and for "Blood Money: Switzerland's Nazi Gold," another special produced for A&E and aired on England's Channel 4, and Rai. Crisman's "Blood Money" also brought him two Cable Ace Awards nominations and many festival awards, including Berlin.Crisman recently produced for NBC/MSNBC a four-hour special on "Death,” as well as 2-hour programs on "Pentecostals” and “Neo-pagans.” He is currently filming a 2-hour feature documentary film on “Jerusalem” and the Dalai Lama as well as a four hour series on Vietnam for National Geographic Television.
The Very Reverend Dr. Brian Baker is Dean at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Sacramento, CA. He was the Rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Ketchum, Idaho, for eight years, and spent close to four years serving as Canon Pastor at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Boise, Idaho. He has a Doctor of Ministry from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and a Masters of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary and is a graduate of West Point (Military Academy).
Festival Special Presentations
Generously sponsored by: Michael Cortese
Generously sponsored by: Friesen Gallery
Given the power of film to wake people up, it is imperative that film makers seize the initiative and the opportunity to truly serve future generations of humans and others on the earth by committing to waking up the present generation through the powerful medium of film. To do this the film maker must himself/herself be busy waking up and be in touch with issues and movements of yesterday and today that awaken us.
We will discuss ways that can nurture the spiritual warrior and mystic/prophet in the film maker and issues that can serve our various communities through the power of spiritual film making.