| Holy Wars | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Stephen Marshall |
| Produced by | Patrick Milling-Smith Brian Carmody |
| Starring | Khalid Kelly Aaron D. Taylor, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad Fostok |
Release date |
|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Holy Wars is a 2010 documentary written and directed by Stephen Marshall. In 2009, Marshall was inspired to make the film due to the prevalence of religious fundamentalism during this time period. [1]
Holy Wars is mostly filmed from the perspective of two missionaries, Khalid Kelly and Aaron Taylor. [2] The film takes a look at the religious fundamentalism in Pakistan, Lebanon, United Kingdom, and the United States as well as the decades long conflict between Islam and Christianity. The film features several interviews, including one with author Sam Harris.
In 2010 Holy Wars was screened at the 14th Annual IDA Docuweeks Showcase, the Kansas International Film Festival, and at the ArcLight Hollywood Theatre in Los Angeles, Ca. [3] [4]
Bloomberg and IndieWire both positively reviewed the film, with IndieWire stating that "Holy Wars provides nuanced characters that provoke discussion and self-reflection." [3] [5] The film has also received a positive review from Variety , writing that the film was "a poignant, disturbing reminder of how lonely, and dangerous, the righter-than-thou road can be". [6] Christianity Today called the film "riveting", saying that "what's also fascinating is the journey behind those journeys". [7] The Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore gave the film 2 1/2 stars, stating "Marshall tries to balance his film with two equally unbending and potentially violent fanatics. He doesn’t." [8]
| Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas International Film Festival 2010 | Best Documentary | Won | |
Evangelicalism, also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that puts primary emphasis on evangelization. The word evangelic comes from the Greek word for 'good news'. The Gospel story of the salvation from sin is considered "the good news". The process of personal conversion involves complete surrender to Jesus Christ. The conversion process is authoritatively guided by the Bible, the God in Christianity's revelation to humanity. Critics of the conceptualization of evangelicalism argue that it is too broad, too diverse, or too ill-defined to be adequately seen as a movement or a single movement.
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subjects hidden behind reality. It is sometimes called observational cinema, if understood as pure direct cinema: mainly without a narrator's voice-over. There are subtle, yet important, differences between terms expressing similar concepts. Direct cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera's presence: operating within what Bill Nichols, an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the "observational mode", a fly on the wall. Many therefore see a paradox in drawing attention away from the presence of the camera and simultaneously interfering in the reality it registers when attempting to discover a cinematic truth.
Anand Patwardhan is an Indian documentary filmmaker known for his socio-political, human rights-oriented films. Some of his films explore the rise of religious fundamentalism, sectarianism and casteism in India, while others investigate nuclear nationalism and unsustainable development. Notable films include Bombay: Our City (1985), In Memory of Friends (1990), In the Name of God (1992), Father, Son, and Holy War (1995), A Narmada Diary (1995), War and Peace (2002) and Jai Bhim Comrade (2011), Reason (2018), and The World is Family (2023), which have won national and international awards.
ITVS is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly series Independent Lens on PBS. Aside from Independent Lens, ITVS funded and produced films for more than 40 television hours per year on the PBS series POV, Frontline, American Masters and American Experience. Some ITVS programs are produced along with organizations like Latino Public Broadcasting and KQED.
Shane Carruth is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, composer, and actor. He is the writer, director, and co-star of the prize-winning science-fiction film Primer (2004), which was his debut feature. His second film, Upstream Color (2013), was an experimental science-fiction film which he wrote, directed, produced, edited, designed, and starred in. He also composed the scores for both films. In recognition of Carruth's idiosyncratic and, at times, bizarre filmmaking technique, director Steven Soderbergh told Entertainment Weekly, "I view Shane as the illegitimate offspring of David Lynch and James Cameron."
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema founded by Nancy Buirski, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo editor of The New York Times and documentary filmmaker.
Doug Block is an American documentary filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the documentaries 112 Weddings, 51 Birch Street, Home Page, The Kids Grow Up and more.
CNN Presents: God's Warriors is a three-part August 2007 CNN Presents documentary produced by Christiane Amanpour in which she examines the rise of religious fundamentalism as a political force in the world. The documentary was filmed in the United States, Europe and Middle East. It focuses on the three major monotheistic religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Religulous is a 2008 American documentary film written by and starring comedian Bill Maher and directed by Larry Charles. The title of the film is a portmanteau derived from the words religious and ridiculous. The documentary examines and challenges religion and religious belief.
Stephen Marshall is a writer, film director, and internet entrepreneur from Canada. His work has been wide-ranging, including music videos, short format work, feature-length documentary, and political criticism. He is the nephew of singer and poet Ian Stephens, who died of AIDS related causes in 1996.
Audience of One is a 2007 documentary film directed by Michael Jacobs. It was premiered on 9 March 2007 at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
Marshall Curry is an American documentary director, producer, cinematographer and editor. His films include Street Fight, Racing Dreams, If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Point and Shoot, and A Night at the Garden. His first fiction film was the Academy Award-winning short film The Neighbors' Window (2019).
Letters to God is a 2010 American Christian drama film directed by David Nixon and starring Robyn Lively, Jeffrey Johnson, Tanner Maguire, Michael Bolten and Bailee Madison. The story was written by Patrick Doughtie about his son Tyler, with the screenplay penned by Doughtie, Art D'Alessandro, Sandra Thrift and Cullen Douglas. The story took place in Nashville, Tennessee, but the movie was filmed in Orlando, Florida.
Why Democracy? is a documentary film series produced by The Why Foundation, previously named Steps International. The series consists of 10 films depicting independent documentary filmmakers' personal perception of and experience with democracy. The series was broadcast by 42 different broadcasters worldwide between 8 and 18 October 2007. The series was accompanied by a global interactive conversation about "democracy," which took place in real and interactive space.
Marwencol is a 2010 American documentary film that explores the life and work of artist and photographer Mark Hogancamp. It is the debut feature of director Jeff Malmberg, produced through his production company Open Face. It was the inspiration for Welcome to Marwen, a 2018 drama directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Lucy Mulloy is a screenwriter and film director. She was nominated for the Student Academy Award for her NYU short film "This Morning". In 2010 Mulloy was awarded the Tribeca Film Festival Emerging Narrative Talent Award and in 2012 she won the Tribeca Film Festival as Best New Director. Her debut feature, Una Noche, also won Best Cinematography and Best Actor. She went on to win many awards internationally and Mulloy was nominated for Best New First Feature at the 2014 Spirit Awards.
Bob and the Monster is a 2011 documentary film by Keirda Bahruth which profiles musician and drug counselor Bob Forrest.
Wo Ai Ni Mommy is a 2010 American television documentary film directed by Stephanie Wang-Breal, and distributed by P.O.V.. The documentary follows the story of a then 8-year-old Chinese girl, Fang Sui Yong, who was adopted by a Jewish Long Island family. The film had its world premiere at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 2010.
Doug Wolens is an American documentary filmmaker, writer and producer whose documentary films have touched on various issues from logging (Butterfly) to transhumanism.
Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Unholy War on Democracy is a 2024 American documentary film directed by Stephen Ujlaki and Chris Jones. The film explores the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States and its opposition to American democracy, and the historic role of Christian nationalists in the conservative movement, beginning with Paul Weyrich and Jerry Falwell in the Moral Majority, and Weyrich's creation of the secretive Council for National Policy. They opposed secular and democratic institutions, supported using government to promote Christianity, and much later, their political influence led to the support for the candidacy of Donald Trump, the subsequent January 6 United States Capitol attack, and the policy blueprints for Project 2025.