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4 Films Focus on America’s Great Prophetic Voices

STARTING THIS MONTH, documentary filmmaker Martin Doblmeier’s new film about the courageous Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is showing nationwide through public TV stations and online streaming. At the same time, Doblmeier is planning an ambitious series of programs all across America to spark discussion on an urgent question: “How can we raise up the prophetic voices we need right now in this country?” Our Cover Story this week describes the importance of this new film about Heschel, including a 3-minute video preview and a full film review by Ed McNulty. We also include links to download free discussion guides provided by Martin’s production company—and we provide links to Martin’s other three films in this prophetic series, focusing on Dorothy Day, Reinhold Niebuhr and Howard Thurman. In this Cover Story, you’ll find everything you need to organize a small-group program—or a series of programs—in coming months. Please, share this news with friends.

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A Prophet in our Midst Today

Mindy Corporon: A week of tragedy and prophetic recommitment to teaching compassion 

DON’T MISS THIS REMARKABLE STORY—The events of this past week would have devastated a lesser prophet, but Mindy Corporon weathered tragedy and dared to return to one of the most emotionally traumatic scenes of her life this week—with a recommitment to her message of compassion. This story represents what a true prophet today can choose to do in the face of overwhelming violence—and tragedy as fresh as news from this past week.

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From Our Authors

In ’30 Days’ and many ways, 4 authors are encouraging a national conversation

OUR ’30 DAYS WITH’ SERIES OF BOOKS now has four authors from across the U.S. sharing with their own audiences about collective ways we can encourage a more constructive national conversation. In this week’s Front Edge Publishing column, we look at how they are doing this via video, audio, news stories in major publications and personal columns on their own websites. As they introduce their audiences to each other, they are creating new communities. Please, share this news with friends.

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Suzy Farbman:

Painting Diversity

THIS WEEK’s GodSigns column by Suzy Farbman features Florida artist and gallery director Tim Jaeger whose work celebrates diversity—and the rocky history of Florida civil rights.

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We Are Caregivers

LUCILLE SIDER:
‘The gods are painting the whole world green again!’

MOST OF OUR BOOKS ABOUT CAREGIVING recommend that all of us spend more time reflecting on the natural world around us. In Lucille Sider’s memoir, Light Shines in the Darkness, the visual metaphor on the book’s cover is a glorious, sunny morning in a tree-lined meadow. This week, as spring breaks out across North America, Lucille reminds all of us of this glorious beauty through a short poem that you can share with friends.

HANNAN CENTER:
Inviting You to a Virtual Opening of this Unique Exhibition

IT’S FREE TO ATTEND—Detroit’s nationally known Hannan Center is inviting all of us to attend a virtual opening at Hannan’s main art gallery—an exhibition in which artists interpret issues around the caregiving experience.

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Holidays & Festivals

Sharing the Holy Fire from Jerusalem

EASTERN ORTHODOX EASTER was May 2, this year, and the world awaited to see how that ancient tradition would unfold at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where last year pilgrims were not allowed into the church due to pandemic restrictions. This year, the church once again was packed—with pilgrims who could demonstrate they had been vaccinated—and the Holy Fire spread from the church around the world. Kevin Vollrath reports on this tradition in 2021 from the perspective of Aboud Emmanuel, a Greek Orthodox priest whose own ancient church is north of Jerusalem.

 

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Ramadan Continues through May 12

OUR HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS COLUMNIST STEPHANIE FENTON reports this week on the upcoming festivals that are major part of the Muslim fasting month: The mystical Laylat al-Qadr marks the night the Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad; and later the Eid ul-Fitr is usually a big family celebration of the end of the fast. For Eid, congregations pray together; visits are paid to family and friends; sweets are enjoyed; and carnivals, vacations and gatherings are common. Although more Eid events will take place this year than did last year, pandemic restrictions are still being enforced at most public events worldwide.

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WANT TO SEE ALL THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS?—It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just visit  InterfaithHolidays.com

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Faith & Film

ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.

Among Ed’s free reviews and columns:

1. BILL CAIN and THE DIARY OF JESUS CHRIST—Ed McNulty kicks off this week’s free section of Visual Parables with a multimedia treat for our readers. On the occasion of Bill Cain’s new book The Diary of Jesus Christ, Ed reviews and recommends that book. Ed was particularly interested in this book because  Bill Cain has had a long career in writing for television and film. One of Cain’s most thought-provoking films, Nightjohn from 1996, is included in the May issue of Ed’s Visual Parables Journal. Then, Ed hosted Cain for a 41-minute Zoom interview that you can also enjoy.
2. THUNDER ROAD—Ed writes, “Jim Cummings wrote, directed, starred in, and even wrote the music and co-edited, this unsettling film about a Texas police officer who seems to be on the road to a mental breakdown. The film is billed as a comedy, but it often veers far more toward tragedy, with a few laughs in between.”
3. SARAJEVO—”Austrian director Andreas Prochaska gives us an interesting new slant on the origins of World War I in this speculative story unfolding in the city where the infamous assassination set in motion the Great War.”
4. CONCRETE COWBOY—”Director (and co-writer with Dan Walser) Ricky Staub’s film, based on the 2011 novel Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri, offers an unusual twist on the old father-son theme.”
5. WOLFWALKERS—“Irish filmmaker Tomm Moore rounds out his colorful mythical trilogy of animated films by reversing the negative image of wolves in Little Red Riding Hood. And what a glowing film this is, rising to the level of his magical The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014).”
6. NIGHTJOHN—Ed reaches back to 1996 to recommend a film now streaming on Amazon. Ed writes, “Director/writer Charles Burnett’s adaptation of Gary Paulsen’s award-winning young-adult novel about slavery and literacy is a fine tribute to the freeing power of the latter.”
7. TWO DISTANT STRANGERS—”Trayvon Free’s and Martin Desmond Roe’s Oscar-nominated short film is about a man caught in a time loop. There are numerous variations in the details of the incidents of his street encounter with a white racist cop.”
8. IF ANYTHING HAPPENS I LOVE YOU—Ed praises this Oscar-nominated animated short about a family in distress. “I am glad I knew virtually nothing ahead of time about directors Michael Govier and Will McCormack’s incredibly hard hitting film, so my review avoids spoilers. But, seldom has so much emotional impact been lodged in such a short film.”
9. SPIRITUAL AUDACITY: The Abraham Joshua Heschel Story—”Thanks to Martin Doblmeir’s PBS documentary, Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel will become a better known figure to millions of viewers. Now available on DVD, this is a worthy addition to his other filmed biographies of great thinkers and movers—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, Reinhold Niebuhr, all brave thinkers who have had a deep impact upon the modern world.”
10. THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS—To offer some lighter fair in his recommendations this week, Ed writes about the Coen brothers’ eccentric series of Western tales, which was released in 2018 and still is streaming on Netflix.

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