“Enlarging the Kingdom: African Pentecostals in Italy”

Film Info:  “Enlarging the Kingdom: African Pentecostals in Italy”  Directed by Annalisa Butticci and Andrew Esiebo  35 minutes, 2012

Distributor: Annalisa Butticci, http://www.pentecostalaesthetics.net/documentary/

Film Summary (from the website): 

Enlarging the Kingdom explores the encounter, interactions, and conflicts between Catholicism and African Pentecostalism. By putting in conversation Nigerian and Ghanaian Pastors and Catholic Priests the documentary looks at their diverse understanding of evil forces, authorized and unauthorized forms of relating to the Divine, the making of idols and icons, religious leadership and authority, women access to the pulpit and religious politics of the Italian Nation State. Enlarging the Kingdom offers a unique insight into the challenges of African Pentecostals in Italy and the role of Pentecostal Churches for African immigrant communities.

Holy Ghost People

Film Title: Holy Ghost People, by Peter Adair (1967) — 57 minutes

Distributor: Available from GPod

Summary: Holy Ghost People describes the beliefs and practices of a snake-handling Pentecostal church and shows candid shots of the congregation during a service, including snake handling and glossolalia. In a dramatic ending, the leader is bitten by a rattlesnake.

For a longer review, see the above GPod link, which has posted most of a review by Gary Morris from: Bright Lights Film Journal.  (Click here, then scroll down the page to find the full review.)

Black Delta Religion

Film Info: Black Delta Religion – Center for Southern Folklore, Memphis (1974) – 15 minutes, B/W

Distributor: ??????????

Summary: A brief but lively depiction of a wide range of Southern black religiosity, including ecstatic dance, singing, preaching styles, social-community context.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Bronx Baptism

Film Info: Bronx Baptism – 1980 – 27 minutes

Distributor: Icarus Films

Summary: Film document, without narration, of a Pentecostal worship service in a Puerto Rican community in the South Bronx.  Fine presentation of Pentecostal worship styles.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

The Long Search

Film Info: “The Long Search” – BBC/Time/Life (1977) – a series of 13 programs, 52 minutes each

Distributor:  Ambrose Video – $99 for the entire set on DVD

Summary:  A documentary on world religions and new religions, narrated by Ronald Eyre (who is irritatingly obtrusive in several instances).  Especially useful are Orthodox Christianity – the Rumanian Solution, which is helpful for illustrating religious symbolism and ritual, the pervasiveness of religion in people’s lives, and the place of religion in one then-Communist country; and African Religion – Zulu Zion, which focuses on new religions in South Africa, emphasizing the importance of dreams, ancestors, and place.  Other useful films in the series include Protestant Spirit: USA; Catholicism; and Judaism.  The film on Alternate Lifestyles in California is disappointingly shallow.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Protestant Spirit: USA

Film Info:  Part of “The Long Search”, a BBC series hosted by Ronald Eyre – 52 minutes

Distributor:  Ambrose Videos has the entire series on DVD for $99

Summary:  In the 1100 churches of Indianapolis, we see bewildering multiplicity of Protestantism. Churches with the seating and styling of deluxe first-run theaters. Services conducted with the professionalism of television spectaculars. And congregations that occupy every seat at four staggered services every Sunday. All are features of the US church-going boom. We discover that religion is not in a state of apathy in America; in some quarters it is decidedly big business.

Onward Christian Soldiers

Film Info:  “Onward Christian Soldiers” (1989) – 52 minutes

Distributor:  Formerly Icarus Films.  Currently ??????????

Summary: Portrays inroads made into traditionally Catholic Latin American communities by evangelical Protestant preaching through the mass media.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Two Black Churches

Film Info: “Two Black Churches” (n.d.) – Center for Southern Folklore (Memphis) – 21 minutes

Distributor: ??????????

Summary:  Images of black religious expression in two very different churches: one in rural Mississippi, the other in urban New Haven, Connecticut.  Includes inspired preaching, faith healing, glossolalia, ecstatic dance.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS