c. 2006 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) Fed up with Hollywood schmaltz and gore _ not to mention $10 theater tickets _ Zully Rosado of Passaic, N.J., took a step last year to find more fulfilling movie experiences.
The law student joined The Spiritual Cinema Circle (http://www.spiritualcinema circle.com). With about 20,000 members around the country, the group charges $21 a month for a DVD with four short movies that move her, she said, to contemplate the “Who are we? Why are we here?” questions of life.
Now, a night at the movies is a night in her living room watching independent or foreign films like “Ram Dass: Fierce Grace,” about the spiritual guru’s recovery from a stroke; “The Collector of Bedford Street,” about a mentally disabled Greenwich Village man who ceaselessly solicits for charity, or “Sweetheart,” about a fictional man’s longing for his mother.
“My boyfriend and I decided to join because … we found that good-quality movies that help you spiritually _ that are worth watching _ were not out in theaters,” she said.
“We’re not going to a movie, spending $20 and saying, `That was OK.’ We pay $20 for four short films that contain so much more than one two-hour movie,” she added.
Rosado is among a growing group of faithful customers letting the Spiritual Cinema Circle pick their movies for the month.
“I like the fact that there is material that is spiritually based, that is family-friendly and that is mind-expanding,” said Mark Goebel of Morris Plains, N.J., another member. “It makes you think. So much of the material I see coming out of Hollywood just doesn’t do that. … This stuff is thought-provoking and conversation-provoking.”
That is the goal of Stephen Simon, 59, who co-founded the Spiritual Cinema Circle in 2003 after a Hollywood career in which he produced “What Dreams May Come” in 1998 and directed “Indigo” in 2003.
Simon said he picks the club’s four monthly selections _ which can vary in length from 10 minutes to an hour and a half _ with the aim of encouraging people to consider their own spirituality, regardless of their religion.
While he won’t send out a film that denigrates a religion or denomination, he said, he also avoids those that focus on specific doctrines. “March of the Penguins” is more likely to make a future Spiritual Cinema Circle DVD than is “The Passion of the Christ,” he said.
“The way I define spirituality in films is, movies that ask who we are and why we’re here, but the key qualifying thing there is ask … These films hopefully ask these questions but leave the answer up to the audience,” he said.
“Spirituality, to me, is a personal journey in which we experience God or Goddess, life, spirit, the universe _ however you might want to define it _ in a very unique and individual way, with really no prescribed rules and regulations and rituals.”
Indeed, many of the people who join the club referred to themselves as more spiritual than religious.
Rosado, raised a Catholic, became Protestant as an adult and now is “looking for something deeper,” she said. “With my boyfriend, I got into the Eastern philosophies. We believe in the human spirit. … I used to be more religious, but in the last couple of years I’ve become more spiritual.”
A favorite club selection, mentioned by several of the New Jersey members, was “Ram Dass: Fierce Grace,” which showed how Baba Ram Dass, author of the best-selling 1971 book “Be Here Now,” recovered from a stroke and continued, while paralyzed, to speak publicly and counsel people going through difficult times.
Born Richard Alpert, he was fired as a Harvard professor in the 1960s for experimenting with LSD and later changed his name to Ram Dass, which means “servant of God,” after spending time in India with a guru.
“I probably had some cliched ideas about who he (Ram Dass) was,” said Eric Pomert of Nutley, N.J.
“I put it in and watched it with my wife, and it kept growing on us,” Pomert said. “By the end I was happy I’d seen it. It pointed to the essence of spirituality. … It gives a positive message about the worthiness of life and the opportunities to be human.”
The number of Spiritual Cinema Circle members has remained largely steady for six months at around 20,000, Simon said, as the company had to cut back on marketing after early growth overwhelmed its staff.
Rosado said she frequently urges other people to join.
“I haven’t been able to convince people to actually do it,” she said, “but I lend (the DVDs) out a lot.”
MO/JL END RNS
(Jeff Diamant covers religion for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.)
Editors: To obtain a photo of Stephen Simon, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.
With a sidebar, RNS-SPIRITUAL-FILMS, providing examples of `spiritual cinema.’
