Spiritual and religious cinema is a subject that in CinemaNet we are especially interested, and it seems that this 2019 we are going to be well served by it. Like we did last yearwe begin the year by looking ahead and commenting on the most outstanding films in the field of the transcendent.
What movies will make us look into infinity these twelve months? Our bet -not counting possible surprises- goes to these ten works:
1 – God is not dead: a light in the dark
The first on the list falls close: next week it opens God is not dead: a light in the dark. The film is the third installment in a celebrated saga of American Christian cinema, and this time it focuses on Father Dave, a pastor who will have to lovingly face the attacks and the tragedy of seeing his church burned.
2 – Onyx, the kings of the Grail
The second spiritual premiere dated this year is a documentary: Onyx, the Grail Kings is shot in Spain -specifically, in León-, and follows the trail of the Holy Grail -the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper – to this day. The film includes a part of fictionalized recreation starring Jim Caviezelfamous for Passion of Christ Y Paul, the apostle of Christ.
3 – If only I could imagine
I can only imagine It talks about how the artist imagines Heaven, and it is the most listened to contemporary Christian song of all time, and this film pulls back the curtain to tell us the story behind its creation. The film is inspired by the life of Bart Millardthe singer of the band MercyMe.
The loss of his father inspired Millard to start a process that germinated in the famous hymn and which is, in turn, an inspiring and motivating story. The critic peter debruge wrote inVariety that the film “works for the same reason that the song does: it lightens the weight of the pain that people carry on their backs”.
4 – Contemplation
- Premiere – To be confirmed
The producer Bosco Films has already announced that this film will be released soonAlthough the date has not been confirmed. We will have to wait, then, to enter into this exploration of the inner world of the writer and theologian John Hull, who went blind a few days before his first child was born. As a result of that, he began to record his thoughts as a diary, some recordings that now give rise to this Contemplation mystical and evocative.
5 – A Rose in Winter
- Premiere – To be confirmed
From now until the end of the list, the titles do not have confirmation of premiere in Spain, but we trust that they will arrive before the end of this year, with which they have some bet. It is the case of a winter rose, a new biography of the Carmelite nun and converted Jew Edith Steinkilled in an extermination camp during World War II.
6 – Ether
- Premiere – To be confirmed
The Polish Krzysztof Zanussi received from the hands of CinemaNet the Golden Wave in 2017, for his for his cinematographic and human trajectory. Far from stagnating, however, this year it is scheduled to be released Ethera film about a military doctor who conducts scientific experiments to manipulate people and who supposes –in Mossen’s words peio sanchez– “a profound reflection on radical evil”.
7 – The first
- Premiere – To be confirmed
The assistants to the last Spiritual Film Festival in Barcelona they could already seethe first, translated as “prayer”. It is the story of a 22-year-old boy who develops a drug addiction and who, to overcome it, joins to a Cenacle Community in the mountains, managed by ex-addicts who try to cure themselves through prayer. There, the protagonist will discover friendship, work, love and faith.
8 – Jinn
- Premiere – To be confirmed
In this case, the spirituality of the film is explicit, but it is not Christian, but Muslim. jinn introduces us to a 17-year-old girl who sees her life turn upside down when her mother, a popular TV weather forecaster, unexpectedly converts to Islam, transforming her personality in the process. “In a time when Islam has become a weapon for ISIS, we need to see the positive and human side of it,” she wrote about this film. the critic Jared Mobarak.
9 – The Pope
- Premiere – To be confirmed
Both this and the last film on the list are the most blurred of the set, because little is known about them. In the case of The Popewe know that it is a film produced by Netflix and starring Anthony Hopkins Y Jonathan Priceknown for his role in Game of Thrones. The first embodies Benedict XVI and the second, to Pope Franciscoin a fiction about the change of pontiff that took place in 2013.
10 – Radegund
- Premiere – To be confirmed
The clever ones will have already realized that this film has a catch, because it is repeated from last year’s list. The reason is simple: we were wrong. Radegund -the next spiritual exploration of Terrence Malikthis time about an Austrian martyr during World War II – did not come out in 2018: hopefully over these twelve months we can turn this particular tortilla around.
Have we left any? Is there any other spiritual film that you look forward to? Leave it below in the comments and… see you in the movie theaters!
