Media Log: Philosophy, Religion, and Ethics
Philosophy, Religion, and Ethics
Born Again: Life in a Fundamentalist Baptist Church
Documentary
Focusing on one independent Baptist congregation outside Worcester, Massachusetts, this film examines how the church serves its members’ needs and what it demands of them in everyday life.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Five Colleges, Inc., Amherst, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1987
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: James Ault, Michael Camerini
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR: Adrienne Miesmer
EDITORS: Adrienne Miesmer, Sarah Stein
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Michael Camerini
MUSIC: Paul Moravec
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: American Film and Video Festival, Blue Ribbon; CINE Golden Eagle; Margaret Mead Film Festival
FORMAT: 16mm (87:00), Video (two versions, 87:00 and 55:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: James Ault Films
The Buddha
Documentary
Two and a half millennia ago, a new religion was born, generated from the ideas of a single man, the Buddha, an Indian sage who attained enlightenment while he sat under a large, shapely fig tree. The Buddha never claimed to be God or his emissary on earth. He said that he was only a human being who, in a world of unavoidable pain and suffering, had found a kind of serenity which others could find, too. The Buddha tells the story of his life, a journey especially relevant to our own bewildering times of violent change and spiritual confusion.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: David Grubin Productions, Inc., New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 2010
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: David Grubin
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: David Grubin
CINEMATOGRAPHY: James Callanan
EDITOR: Deborah Peretz
NARRATORS: Richard Gere, Blair Brown
FORMAT Video (120:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS and PBS International Acquisitions
The Dean of Thin Air
Drama
This drama tells the story of the eighteenth-century philosopher Bishop George Berkeley who developed the theory that the physical world exists only in our perception of it.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: WSBE, Providence, RI, in cooperation with Irish National Television (RTE)
YEAR PRODUCED: 1984
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Peter Frid
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Frank Muhly, Jr., Christine Herbes
DIRECTOR: Deirdre Friel
WRITER: Frank Muhly, Jr.
EDITOR: Christine Dall
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Brian Heller
CAST: Dan Von Bargen, Keith Jochim, Richard Kneeland, Melanie Jones
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (60:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Not currently available
Decoding Watson
Documentary
Thrust into the limelight for discovering the secret of life at age twenty-five with Francis Crick, influential Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson has thrived on making headlines ever since. His discovery of DNA’s structure, the double helix, revolutionized human understanding of how life works. He was a relentless and sometimes ruthless visionary who led the Human Genome project and turned Harvard University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory into powerhouses of molecular biology. With unprecedented access to Watson, his wife Elizabeth, and sons Rufus and Duncan, and featuring interviews with his friends, his colleagues, scientists and historians, the film explores Watson’s evolution from socially awkward postdoc to notorious scientific genius to discredited nonagenarian. Controversial and unapologetic, Watson still thrives on competition and disruption. The film uncovers his signature achievements, complexities and contradictions, including his penchant for expressing unfiltered and objectionable points of view.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Room 608 Inc. and Thirteen Productions LLC’s American Masters for WNET
YEAR PRODUCED: 2017
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Michael Kantor, Jonathan Halperin
PRODUCERS: Mark Mannucci, Hannah Meagher
DIRECTOR: Mark Mannucci
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Scott Sinkler
EDITOR: Alex Ricciardi
PRINT MATERIAL: Additional information on James Watson, available on his page of the American Masters website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/american-masters-decoding-watson-about/10863/
FORMAT: DVD 83 minutes
DISTRIBUTOR: https://pbsdistribution.org/
Dying
Documentary
This film presents portraits of several terminally ill cancer patients through their comments and those of their families and friends.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: WGBH, Boston, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1975
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Michael Ambrosino
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Michael Roemer
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER/CINEMATOGRAPHY: David Grubin
AWARDS: New York Film Festival, Blue Ribbon; Gabriel Award; American Cancer Society, Media Award; Virgin Island International Film Festival, Gold Medal; Columbus (OH) International Film and Video Festival, Chris Award; CINE Golden Eagle
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (97:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Not currently available
The Glory and the Power: Fundamentalisms Observed
Documentary Radio Series
This series explores the historical and philosophical foundations of fundamentalism and its impact around the world. (The four NEH‑supported programs are marked by an asterisk.)
Program 1
The Turning Point
examines why religious leaders of the Christian right saw the 1980 March on Washington as a turning point and documents what has happened since in terms of growing activism and intensity of belief.
Producers: Camilla Carroll, Char Woods
Host: Alex Chadwick
Program 2
Guatemala
considers why the evangelical Protestant religion—in particular Pentacostalism—has made dramatic gains in what was once a predominantly Roman Catholic Central and South America.
PRODUCER: Bebe Crouse
Host: Alex Chadwick
Program 3
The Swing of the Pendulum
looks at how and why Islamic fundamentalism is sweeping the Middle East and, through conversations with Islamic Egyptians, explores the importance to them of nation, family, and following the way of the prophet Mohammed.
PRODUCER: Claudia Hampston Daly
Host: Alex Chadwick
Program 4
Who is a Sikh?
explores what it means to be a Sikh with scholars, journalists, and political and religious leaders from Delhi to the Punjab.
PRODUCER: Frederick de Sam Lazaro
Host: Alex Chadwick
Program 5
An International Forum on Fundamentalisms
is a two‑hour special taped before a live audience at the University of Chicago's Court Theatre in which the audience and experts search for answers to questions about contemporary fundamentalisms.
Producers: Tom Voegeli, Char Woods
Host: John Hockenberry
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: William Benton Broadcast Project of the University of Chicago, IL, in association with WETA‑FM, Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1992
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Claudia Hampton Daly
Project Director for Benton Broadcast: Lewis Freedman
FORMAT: Audiocassette
Programs 1‑4 (30:00), Program 5 (120:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Not currently available
Hard Choices
Documentary Series
The series examines ethical questions and issues raised as a result of remarkable achievements in medicine, biology, and medical technology.
Program 1
Boy or Girl: Should the Choice Be Ours?
looks at new experimental procedures that are moving toward the possibility of sex choice at the time of conception.
Program 2
Genetic Screening: The Ultimate Preventive Medicine
examines the ethical dilemmas posed by the possibility of genetic screening in the prenatal stage.
Program 3
Human Experiments
examines how experiments with human subjects affect society and individuals.
Program 4
Behavior Control
considers the dilemma of distinguishing between helpful and harmful uses of behavior modification techniques.
Program 5
Death and Dying
looks at the questions raised by new life-prolonging medical technology concerning the rights of dying people and the definition of death.
Program 6
Doctor, I Want...
explores the attitudes and expectations of those seeking medical care and those providing it.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: KCTS, Seattle, WA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1980
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Sandra Clement Walker
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: John Coney
EXECUTIVE IN CHARGE OF PRODUCTION: Ron Rubin
SERIES PRODUCERS: Graham Chedd, Steven Katten, Richard O. Moore
SERIES HOST: Dr. Willard Gaylin, M.D., President of the Hastings Center, Institute of Society, Ethics, and Life Sciences
FORMAT: Video 6 (60:00) programs
DISTRIBUTOR: Not currently available
Near Death
Documentary
Shot in the medical and surgical intensive care units at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, this film considers the interrelationships among patients, families, doctors, nurses, and religious advisers as they confront the issues involved in deciding whether to continue life-sustaining treatment to dying patients.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Exit Films, Inc., Cambridge, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1987
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Frederick Wiseman
CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Davey
EDITOR: Frederick Wiseman
AWARDS: Dupont-Columbia Award, Best Independent Documentary; International Forum/Berlin Film Festival, Critics Award; Royal Film Archive of Belgium, L’Age d’Or Prize
FORMAT: Video (350:00) One almost six-hour program on 4 (90:00) cassettes
DISTRIBUTOR: Zipporah Films, Inc.
Out Of Order
Documentary
In Out of Order, six former nuns tell why they entered and why they left religious life: three to become teachers, one an artist, one an insurance agent, and one a private investor.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Documentary Research, Inc., Buffalo, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1982
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS/EDITORS: Diane Christian, Bruce Jackson
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Bruce Jackson
FESTIVALS: Melbourne Film Festival; Houston International Film Festival; Dorothy Arzner Film Festival; American Film Festival; Museum of Modern Art
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (89:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: First Run/Icarus Films
Pursuit Of Happiness
Documentary
Shot in verité style, Pursuit of Happiness follows the lives of several Americans as they consciously or unconsciously search for this “inalienable right.”
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Global Village, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1984
COPRODUCERS/CODIRECTORS: John Reilly, Julie Gustafson
EDITOR: Nicole Fanteaux
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Chicago International Film Festival, Gold Plaque; Toronto Film Festival; Atlanta Film and Video Festival, Prize Winner; American Film and Video Festival, Honorable Mention
FORMAT: Video (60:00)
DISTRUBTOR: Not currently available
Shadows of the Nuclear Age: American Culture and the Bomb
Documentary Radio Series
Shadows of the Nuclear Age examines the impact of the nuclear age on American social, ethical, and economic values.
Program 1
Seven Minutes to Midnight
gives an overview of the impact of recent breakthroughs in the technology of nuclear weapons and the proliferation of nuclear materials.
Program 2
Hiroshima: The Decision to Use the Bomb
discusses the Truman Administration’s decision to drop the bomb; the role of bureaucratic momentum, military necessity, and cold war politics, and public reactions to the bomb and its aftermath.
Program 3
The Story of the H-Bomb
examines the development of the early arms race, with particular attention to The Baruch Plan and the decision to build the hydrogen bomb.
Program 4
The Years of Testing
traces the history of nuclear testing, fallout, air raid drills, bomb shelters, and the effects of these on Americans in the 1950s.
Program 5
The Missile Crisis
recounts the Kennedy years, the Cuban missile crisis, and the move toward arms control and a test ban.
Program 6
The Road Not Taken: Protest and the Bomb
examines the attitudes behind past and present public efforts to end the arms race.
Program 7
Nuclear Hollywood
analyzes the different ways that nuclear war has been presented in film from the Cold War to the present.
Program 8
Nuclear Anxiety: Coping with the Eve of Destruction
explores the way Americans are affected by the possibility of nuclear destruction and looks at the means we have for facing the dangers of nuclear war.
Program 9
Memos and Megatons—How We Talk about the Bomb
considers the language of modern war, nuclear deterrence, and bureaucratic decision-making.
Program 10
The Literature of Apocalypse
presents leading literary figures and critics discussing the concept of war in modern fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as the role of the literary artist in relation to war.
Program 11
Swords and Plowshares—The Economy of the Arms Race
examines the effects of a growing military sector and high levels of military spending.
Program 12
Ethics and Options for a Threatened Planet
discusses what values, ethics, and laws are relevant in the nuclear age.
Program 13
Where Do We Go From Here? The Great Nuclear Debate
explores the feasibility of various plans to end the arms race.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: SANE Education Fund, Philadelphia, PA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1980
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Stephen Shick
PRODUCER: David Freudberg
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Michael Marchino
RESEARCH DIRECTOR: Diana Roose
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Robert K. Musil
FORMAT: Audiocassette
13 (30:00) programs
DISTRIBUTOR: Not currently available
Speaking of Faith: Biographical Series (See also "On Being")
Documentary Series Radio
Speaking of Faith is public radio’s weekly conversation about religion, meaning, ethics and ideas. Speaking of Faith’s Biographical Series profiles influential historical figures and brings special focus to their religious context and milieu, and their legacy to our time. Each program includes a signature blend of in-depth interviews, music, literature, and archival materials to present a compelling radio portrait.
Program 1
Einstein and The Mind of God is a two-part series exploring the little-known spiritual, human, and ethical sensibility of Albert Einstein and the modern extensions of his scientific and ethical perspectives.
Program 2
Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin takes a fresh and thought-provoking look at Darwin’s life and ideas. He did not argue against God but against a simple understanding of the world—its beauty, its brutality, and its unfolding creation.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: American Public Media, St. Paul, MN
YEAR PRODUCED: 2005 and 2006
PRODUCERS: Kate Moos, Mitch Hanley, Trent Gilliss, Colleen Scheck, Jody Abramson
EDITORS: Bill Buzenberg, Ken Hom, Krista Tippett
HOST: Krista Tippett
PRINT MATERIALS: Transcripts are available at www.onbeing.org
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Gracie Allen Award from the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television (2002, 2005); Religion Communicator’s Council Wilbur Award (2004, 2005); Gabriel Award from The Catholic Broadcasters Association (2004); Webby Award for www.speakingoffaith.org (2005)
FORMAT: Audio 53:00 minutes each program
DISTRIBUTOR: American Public Media
This Far By Faith: African-American Spiritual Journeys
Documentary
The tumultuous and inspirational journey of spiritual renewal and transformation is the theme of This Far by Faith, a major new television series from Blackside, Inc., producers of Eyes on the Prize, and Malcolm X: Make It Plain, and The Faith Project, Inc., an independent identity created to complete This Far by Faith.
The series presents a dramatic interpretation of the African-American religious experience in six hours of dramatic narrative storytelling. Black religious institutions and individuals helped lead the first for the abolition of slavery, offered new political ideals and leadership during Reconstruction, provided shelter and opportunity during the years of migration, immigration, and through the Great Depression; and fueled the movement for civil rights in the middle of the twentieth century. In the years since, these individuals and institutions have formed a vanguard in the search for answers to problems facing the nation. This Far by Faith tells their stories and examines their legacies.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: The Faith Project, Inc., c/o Dasi, New York City, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 2003
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: June Cross, Dante James
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS/WRITERS: Noland Waler, June Cross, Lulie Haddad, Alice Markowitz, Valerie, Lison, Leslie Farrell
EDITORS: Michael Simollari, Tracy Baumgardner, Sandra Christie, Jonathan Sahula, Jean Boucicaut, Gina Sohn
NARRATOR: Lorraine Toussaint
PRINT MATERIALS: This Far By Faith: Stories from the African-American Religious Experience Available through Happer Collins
FORMAT: Video 3 programs 2 hours
DISTRIBUTOR: Blackside Inc. & PBS
On Being with Krista Tippett (See also "Speaking of Faith")
Documentary Radio
Teilhard De Chardin’s Planetary Mind and Our Spiritual Evolution: It's a constant theme these days: Where is technology taking us? Are we heading towards greatness, or just hyperconnected collapse? This challenge, our challenge, was foreseen a century ago by Teilhard de Chardin. A world-renowned paleontologist, he helped verify fossil evidence of human evolution. A Jesuit priest and philosopher, he penned forbidden ideas that seemed mystical at the time but are now coming true—that humanity would develop capacities for collective, global intelligence; that a meaningful vision of the earth and the universe would have to include, as he put it, "the interior as well as the exterior of things; mind as well as matter." The coming stage of evolution, he said, won't be driven by physical adaptation but by human consciousness, creativity and spirit. It's up to us. We visit Teilhard de Chardin's biographer, and we experience his ideas energizing New York Times Dot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin and evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson.
Lawrence Kushner — Kabbalah and the Inner Life of God: The Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah is a rich, magnetic world of thought and teaching. It has resonance with modern understandings of reality—and describes a cosmic significance to the practical moral call to tikkun olam, "repair the world." Rabbi Lawrence Kushner is a long-time student and articulator of the mysteries and messages of the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah. He was influenced, like every modern student of Kabbalah, by a Jewish historian named Gershom Scholem (1897–1982), and literally resurrected this tradition from obscurity and made it accessible to modern people. It’s in honor of Gershom Scholem’s legacy that we speak with Lawrence Kushner, and it’s in the spirit of Kabbalah—which wraps teachings in teachings, wisdom in wisdom, life within life—that we get to know Scholem through the living ideas of this rabbi in his lineage.
W.E.B. Du Bois and The American Soul: One of the most extraordinary minds of American and global history, W.E.B. Du Bois penned the famous line that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." He is a formative voice for many of the people who gave us the Civil Rights movement. But his passionate, poetic words speak to all of us navigating the ever-unfolding, unfinished business of civil rights. We bring Du Bois' life and ideas into relief for the twenty-first century with scholar Arnold Rampersad and poets Elizabeth Alexander and Maya Angelou.
The Modern Resonance of Rabindranath Tagore: Rabindranath Tagore is the man who bestowed the title “Mahatma” on Gandhi. Tagore was championed by Yeats and Pound to become the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. The Indian and Bangladeshi national anthems today are Tagore’s compositions. And you may have seen a picture of him without knowing it—a famous photo of Tagore in long gray beard and flowing robe—sitting with Einstein in a suit and tie in Einstein’s Berlin home, where they debated the deepest nature of reality. Rabindranath Tagore was born in1861 in Calcutta. His wealthy Bengali family also owned vast estates in what is now Bangladesh. As an adult, he managed these estates and conducted social and educational experiments there, some of which have remnants in India today. We speak with British author and Tagore biographer Andrew Robinson and draw out novelist Anita Desai on Tagore as a figure in her Bengali heritage and for her as a modern Indian writer.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: On Being/KTTP, Minneapolis, MN
YEAR PRODUCED: 2014
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Krista Tippett
PRODUCERS: Lily Percy, Chris Heagle, Mariah Helgeson
EDITOR: Trent Gilliss
HOST: Krista Tippett
FORMAT: RADIO (1 hour - each)
DISTRIBUTOR: www.onbeing.org
Visions of Social Order: For the Love of Work
Documentary
For the Love of Work presents the life and thought of Karl Marx, explaining such ideas as alienation, exploitation, the dialectic, materialism, human nature, technology, and revolution. Co-hosts Sidney Hook and Tibor Machan discuss and debate differing perspectives on Marx’s ideas.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Palmer R. Chitester Fund, Erie, PA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1986
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Robert J. Chitester
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Eben Wilson
WRITERS: Eben Wilson, Tibor Machan, Robert J. Chitester
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Bob Ames, Gordon Hickie
EDITOR: Nicolette Bolgar
CO-HOSTS: Tibor Machan, Sidney Hook
FORMAT: Video (58:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Not currently available