As we prepare to enter the fifth year of screening and discussing movies at The Christian Institute, I think no one is more surprised than me that we're still going strong. Mind Over Movies is our free semiannual film program. Each summer, we screen films in the church's community classroom. Screenings are followed by a respectful roundtable discussion and audience Q&A, focusing on metaphysical themes and spiritual messages as much as cinematic merit. Over the years, we've screened everything from contemporary high concept movies and indie documentaries to silent films and foreign cult classics.
My co-host I began developing Mind Over Movies in the spring of 2015. We were ambitious, to say the least. Our goal was to screen a dozen films over the course of the summer and, based on the discussions after the films, write an essay every week illuminating each movie's philosophy. All that—run by a volunteer staff of two—while maintaining a complex social media and print journalism presence the entire time.
Needless to say, we have a more streamlined approach these days.
This July will be our fifth summer of screening and discussing movies. In keeping with our mission of spiritual education at The Christian Institute, we offer this program for free to the community. But we need your participation. After all, without you, Mind Over Movies would just be two guys adding their own commentary to a movie in a big dark room, and you can get that in any theater in the country whether you want it or not.
There are a number of ways you can participate. You can do it by being an active audience member, engaged in the screening and respectfully part of the discussion. Films are special at Mind Over Movies because they're live. Some of the films we've screened I've seen a dozen times before. Others I've only seen right before the program. Either way, I always see something different and learn something new when I watch them on a big screen and discuss them after with an audience.
You can also participate by donating. Even if the program is not as ambitious as it was at the beginning, it is still run by volunteers, and any money you give will go toward keeping the lights on and the projector running. And we will never charge for Mind Over Movies—so if we cannot afford to run it, it will simply disappear.
You can also participate with your presence. Swing by some Friday this summer and see what the program's about. Bring a friend. We don't mind. On the contrary, we'd love to see you in audience.
You can check the calendar on this website for more information on upcoming films, or you can follow Mind Over Movies on Facebook or Twitter to stay connected. To be on the Mind Over Movies emailing list, send an email to MindOverMoviesLA@gmail.com.