S&P Awards
The Most Spiritually Literate Films of 2002
A Song for Martin
An extraordinary Swedish film about a married couple's adventures in love late in life.
Foreign
ABC Africa
A heart-wrenching documentary about efforts being made in Uganda to look after 1.6 million orphans whose parents died of AIDS.
Documentary
About Schmidt
An American masterpiece about the quest of a sixty-six-year-old man to pick up the pieces of his disappointing life and to discover some new sources of love and meaning.
Feature
Adaptation
A powerful movie about the passions that sometimes fuel our best achievements and other times leave us stranded with nothing more than our lesser appetites.
Feature
Antwone Fisher
The touching story of a young African American's desire to come to terms with his origins, a sacred task strongly recommended by a therapist.
Feature
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
An Inuit masterpiece that will give you goosebumps as its uncanny tale of love, communal discord, and justice unfolds.
Foreign
Ayurveda: The Art of Being
A fascinating documentary that provides a rounded and revealing overview of this ancient holistic healing system.
Special Interest
Bloody Sunday
A documentary-like account of the cold-blooded murder by English soldiers of thirteen unarmed and peaceful demonstrators in a nonviolent march in Derry, Ireland in 1972.
Feature
Bowling for Columbine
A kick-out-the-jams, no-holds-barred examination of America's obsession with guns that concludes it's all about fear.
Documentary
Catch Me If You Can
A poignant and convincing movie about the remarkable transformation of an enemy into a friend.
Feature
Changing Lanes
An ethically rich drama about troubles as a key to personal transformation.
Feature
Daughter from Danang
A brutally honest documentary about a much anticipated family reunion that goes wrong thanks to culture shock and a refusal to empathize with others.
Documentary
Dragonfly
A beautiful afterlife drama conveying how great gifts can be hidden in death and how they can bear fruit in our lives if we have the faith to let them unfold.
Feature
Elling
A Norwegian film that celebrates an unusual friendship and the uncanny ways two eccentrics come into their own.
Foreign
Far from Heaven
A remarkably alluring film about one suburban woman's yearning in the face of a discovery that shatters her cheery and tranquil suburban life.
Feature
Green Dragon
An inspiring and heart-affecting film about the desperate attempts of Vietnamese refugees living in U.S. relocation camps to keep their hopes alive.
Feature
Minority Report
An audacious and imaginative sci-fi thriller that enables us to witness the dangerous consequences of our present fear-based way of living where we are willing to sacrifice our freedoms for the pipe d…
Feature
Monsoon Wedding
A captivating film that conveys the joy, sadness, fear, envy, and resentment that often come to the surface at weddings.
Foreign
Mostly Martha
A highly original German drama about the startling transformation of a talented but lonely chef.
Foreign
Naqoyqatsi
A bold and irreverent non-narrative film that speaks its truths with spellbinding images and the entrancing music of Philip Glass.
Special Interest
Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times
An enlightening documentary in which this 74-year-old MIT linguist and political philosopher speaks out against all forms of violence.
Documentary
Promises
A soul-stirring documentary about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as revealed through the voices of children who are curious about each other even in a milieu where hatred reigns supreme.
Documentary
Rabbit-Proof Fence
An Australian spiritual adventure story about three courageous Aboriginal girls and their yearning to return home.
Feature
Ram Dass Fierce Grace
An extraordinary documentary about the grace-filled life of the bestselling author and spiritual teacher.
Special Interest
Secret Ballot
A playful Iranian parable about freedom and the need for openness wherever people are experimenting with democracy.
Foreign
Signs
A spiritual shiver story about the meaning of coincidences, family solidarity in the face of the inexplicable, and how destiny unfolds in every moment.
Feature
Son of the Bride
A heartwarming comedy about the personal transformation of a middle-aged man, thanks largely to the example of his very romantic parents.
Foreign
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
A fine family film about a wild stallion who overcomes obstacle after obstacle to maintain his freedom.
Animated
Spirited Away
A Japanese animated feature that is nothing short of wonderful with its ten-year-old female protagonist and its steadfast refusal to set up a dualistic battle between good and evil.
Animated
Sunshine State
A thought-provoking portrait of two women trying to refocus their lives.
Feature
Talk to Her
A multi layered film which centers around two men who have the gift of tears and the patience to explore the different delineations of love and compassion.
Foreign
The Back of the World
An extraordinary documentary about three individuals whose lives have been marred by economic, political, and social injustices.
Documentary
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
A tour de force drama about the astonishingly pivotal role of imagination in the soulful development of two rowdy teenagers.
Feature
The Hours
A mesmerizing and multidimensional drama based on a Pulitzer prize-winning novel about the yearning of three women and their varied paths to passion, meaning, and happiness.
Feature
The Quiet American
A timely and formidable screen adaptation of Graham Greene's novel about the terrible aftershocks of a zealous young American's idealism and subterfuge in Saigon in 1952.
Feature
The Way Home
A wonderful Korean film that provides a tutorial on the miracles that can be wrought by unconditional love.
Foreign
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
A graceful film which explores the obstacles to happiness faced by five contemporary individuals in New York City.
Feature
