The Loneliness and Longing of St. Francis of Assisi
Part 1 introduces the viewer to Saint Francis of Assisi, the city of Assisi, and Gerard Thomas Straub’s journey in faith.
The Loneliness and Longing of St. Francis of Assisi, Part 1
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub 2 Hours 10 minutes
Part 2 tells the story of Francis’ active life of ministry and his struggles as well as his death.
The Loneliness and Longing of St. Francis of Assisi, Part 2
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub 1 Hour 47 minutes
When Did I See You Hungry?
Narrated by Martin Sheen, this film is a photographic meditation on the plight of the poor and our responsibility to help. Gerard Thomas Straub spent months living among the poor and photographing the impoverished sections of 29 cities in nine nations: India, Brazil, Kenya, Jamaica, the Philippines, Mexico, Italy, Canada, and the US. The photographs, which document the life of the poorest of the poor, including a leper colony in Brazil, are instruments of contemplation, and allow us to see more closely things we know about but are not attentive to. More than just capturing the agony of life in the slums, Gerry’s photographs reveal the hidden humanity of the poor, their spirit of joy, and their will to survive.
“A beautiful and wrenching meditation on the poor…comprised of Straub’s 250 striking and very intimate black-and-white photographs and his compelling words.”
-Helene Slesserav-Jamir, Sojourners Magazine-
When Did I See You Hungry?
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
37 minutes
Mud Pies & Kites
On January 12, 2010 a powerful earthquake struck Haiti, killing over 300,000 people and leaving more than a million people homeless. Haiti was a disaster before the earthquake; after it, it became an unimaginable nightmare. After nine trips to Haiti during the country’s most tumultuous year in its long tortured history, the first coming just before the earthquake and the second just days after the earthquake. I was left with countless images that are forever seared into my mind…the endless mutilated crush victims, the horrendous living conditions, the sick, dying and dead…yet, for me, all that I’ve witnessed can be best encapsulated in two simple and common objects, a mud pie and a kite, that speak plainly and clearly to both the despair and the hope I found in Haiti.
On my desk in my library I have a mud pie I brought home from Haiti. I could never imagine being so hungry and so broke that I had to resort to eating something made from mud and contaminated water, something so vile it could make me very sick or even kill me. A mud pie symbolizes, for me, the extreme poverty of so many Haitians. Mud pies are baked in ovens of anguish and hopelessness.
I’ll never forget my first visit to Cité Soleil, the worst slum in Port-au-Prince. The devastation, the tin shacks, the rotting trash, the spewing sewage, a little girl urinating in the garbage, a woman defecating in the open, naked kids with bloated bellies running barefoot through pig-infested mud and rubbish, the nauseating stench from rotting garbage…it was all too-much to take in. The nightmarish slum assaulted my senses, left me feeling helpless and emotionally wrought. And then, all of a sudden something joyful caught my eye and filled me with hope. It was a makeshift kite fashioned out of a plastic garbage bag. In a place that made no sense, a kite was something I could understand. The kids and the kites lifted my spirits. It showed me how imagination could lift the human spirit out of the muck of sadness and hopelessness. The endurance and innocence of the children countered the madness and injustice of the adults. And so mud pies and kites came to symbolize the death and resurrection that is a daily event in Haiti.
Divided into two parts, Mud Pies & Kites is about the necessity and importance of compassion. The film captures the dignity, determination and courage of the poor, and, in the midst of the extreme poverty and deprivation, celebrates the possibility of a better future through mutual cooperation and genuine compassion, which is the fullest expression of the luminous force of intentional love and kindness.
After having made 18 films on poverty around the world, I believe, Mud Pies & Kites is the most compelling film I’ve ever made, and I’m delighted that it is the first film produced by my new ministry, Pax et Bonum Communications, which serves the poor through the power of film.
Mud Pies & Kites
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
3 hours 42 minutes
The Fragrant Spirit of Life
The Fragrant Spirit of Life is set in war-torn Uganda, this film is presented in two parts. It is a pilgrimage through the dreadful darkness of sub-Saharan East Africa and into the heart of goodness through five amazing people serving the poorest of the poor.
The Fragrant Spirit of Life, Part 1
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
2 hours, 13 minutes
The Fragrant Spirit of Life, Part 2
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
2 hours, 13 minutes
Endless Exodus
Endless Exodus is a film about migrants from Mexico and Central America who cross the border and the US without any documentation. But the film’s focus is not political or social; rather it looks at the problem through the lens of spirituality. The film captures the face and presence of Christ in the face and presence of the migrants, many of whom will die trying to cross the desert to get a job nobody really wants. During the last ten years, more than 3,000 migrants have died trying to cross the border between the US and Mexico. But it’s not just a film about empathizing with migrants who only want to survive. The film parallels our own spiritual journey through our own desert of doubts and confusions, as the migrants teach us about sacrifice, fearlessness, dedication, and faith in the face of grave circumstances.
Gerry’s own statements of his deeply held and courageously lived out religious convictions and his poignant visuals disturb and challenge viewers at many levels. He makes us see what we would rather not see. He invites us to feel and empathize more deeply, to think more critically, to pray more faithfully, and to act more courageously. His personal witness is as inspiring as it is troubling. And while he says the film is not a political reflection on immigration, it will have a significant impact on how we think about and speak about the problem of immigration that is dividing the US electorate. As an expression of the Gospel, Gerry’s life and films are indeed “good news for the poor.” But they await the viewers’ response to become even “better news for the poor.”
Note:
This film was originally produced in 2004. With the recent humanitarian crisis along our southern border with the influx of thousands of children, many of whom are unaccompanied, streaming into to the United States from Central America the film is more timely now than ever before. The response from many Americans to the plight of these children fleeing unspeakable violence in places like Honduras has been shameful and truly ugly; these tired, frightened kids have been exploited for political purposes. When I first made the film, I was stunned by the negative attitudes from so many of my Christian friends. One man, who was in active ministry, wondered why I was even making the film because these “illegals” were just breaking into our country and stealing from us. So much for the biblical imperative to welcome the stranger. I fully understood while I was making the film that the issue of undocumented migrants was a hot button political issue. My interest in making the film had nothing to do with politics…I was simply trying to help people see the face of Christ in the face of the undocumented migrants. While filming in Honduras in February 2014, I saw firsthand the level of gang and drug-related violence which is terrorizing the good, humble, hard-working people of Honduras. I watched Endless Exodus from beginning to end a few nights ago. It was the first time I had seen it in ten years. It stunned me. I could not sleep after watching it. Making this film had more of an impact on me than any of my other twenty poverty films. When I began making it, I had no idea of the plight of undocumented migrants, nor was I even concerned about them. The film changed the way I looked at everything. I’ve always thought it was the most important of all my films.
Endless Exodus
The Sorrowful Flight of the Migrants
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
2 hours, 13 minutes
Rooted in Love
Rooted in Love will take you on a memorable journey… ten inspirational days in Honduras with five extraordinary women quietly doing heroic work on behalf of forgotten people living in extreme poverty on the periphery of life in a country scarred by violence. The women are members of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, a religious congregation of sisters, many of whom are doctors and nurses. Based in Ireland, the MMM sisters serve the medical needs of people in 14 nations, with a special emphasis on women and children.
Part 1 explores their noble work in the gritty urban environment of Choloma.
Rooted in Love, Part 1
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
1 Hour 49 minutes
Part 2 explores the Medical Missionaries of Mary’s outreach far to the south in the rural, mountainous region of Marcala.
Rooted in Love, Part 2
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub 1 Hour 43 minutes
We Anoint Their Wounds
Set in Eastern Africa, We Anoint Their Wounds tells the inspirational story of the noble and
heroic work of Jesuit Refugee Service, a world-wide ministry serving both refugees living
isolated lives in remote, massive refugee camps and refugees living marginalized lives in the
bleak, lonely shadows of urban centers.
In Eastern Africa countless people are left outside the circle of life; they are shunned,
disempowered, ignored and forgotten. They are refugees, desperate people fleeing hunger and violence in such drought-stricken and conflict-riddled nations as Somalia. They live in huge, secluded over-crowded refugee camps. This film features the Kakuma Refugee Camp in
northwest Kenya. It is home to 95,000 refugees. Under the burning heat in Kakuma, life is direct and raw. To be a refugee means to live on the edge of society, socially and politically
ostracized. Around the world there are more than 50 million people who have been forcibly
displaced, and 80% of them are women and children.
Jesuit Refugee Service has been bringing life into these dreadful refugee camps around the
world for more than 30 years. Their sole mission is to accompany and serve refugees and to
advocate on their behalf. Their motto has been reduced to three simple yet powerful words –
accompany, serve, advocate – that taken together form a tangible sign of love and hope. JRS
works in 50 countries around the world.
The film will also look at the harsh, hidden and solitary lives of refugees who fled the camps and are living in the shadows of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Many refugees live in massive slums. In order to survive some refugees have no other option than picking through the rotting waste of garbage dumps, desperately searching food to eat and recyclable items they can sell.
To be a refugee is to live a life of fatigue and long journeys. It’s a draining, dreary life, filled with fear and anxiety. For many it can be a life of constant uncertainty and unbearable physical and emotional suffering. For the most part, it’s a life of being ignored and scorned. Refugees are often greeted with deaf ears and hard hearts, forced to face a wall of indifference. To be a refugee is to endure a life of mental anguish, a life of being unwanted and unloved. People who are starving, homeless, friendless, so easily lose the sense of their human dignity. It is not enough to give them what they need. We must restore their self-worth, their human dignity, in such a way that their hope and trust in humanity are rekindled.
From the very beginning, Jesuit Refugee Service was a ministry of being with refugees rather
than doing for refugees. At its core JRS shares love, hope and faith with people living in
intensely difficult situations. In the eyes of JRS, refugees are all God in exile.
We Anoint Their Wounds
The Anguished Plight of Refugees in Eastern Africa
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
1 hour 42 minutes
Room at the Inn
Room at the Inn tells the inspirational story of the St. Francis Inn, a soup kitchen located in the Kensington area of Philadelphia, a dark, brooding, depressed area where poverty, pain and drugs thrive. The Inn is operated by a community of Franciscan friars, sisters and lay people dedicated to living a life of service among the poor. Guests entering the Inn are served much more than a meal: they are shown the love and mercy of God. As a way of acknowledging their dignity as human beings and children of God, the poor are seated at tables and served a hot meal.
Because it was filmed in December of 2005 as the community, the guests, and the filmmakers prepared to celebrate the birth of Christ who became poor for us, the film, besides telling the heartwarming story of the Inn, subtly takes on the form of an Advent retreat whose message resounds throughout: the poor, the broken, and the rejected are portals through which we can enter fully into the life of Christ.
After making eight films on poverty, Gerry Straub returns to where his journey with the poor began in order to see what else the St. Francis Inn can teach him about poverty and prayer. In this very personal film, Gerry offers a meditation that encapsulates the rich spiritual insights gathered while filming in some of the poorest places on earth. Room at the Inn is more than a loving appreciation of the St. Francis Inn; it is a penetrating look at the richness of God revealed in the poverty of Christ and how God lives in our poverty and weakness.
Room at the Inn
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
2 hours, 30 minutes
We Have a Table for Four Ready
We Have a Table for Four Ready – set in Philadelphia, it was the first documentary film I made. I made it while writing my book The Sun & Moon Over Assisi; the book contains stories from the filming. I went to Philly to better understand St. Francis’ love of not just the poor, but poverty itself. I was so impressed by the work of the Franciscan friars at the St. Francis Inn, I got some friends of mine at ABC to help me make a film about The Inn. The film was aired on many PBS stations. It was funded by and owned by a Catholic production company. The film contained two parts; PBS aired Part One. We only have access to the broadcast version.
We Have a Table for Four Ready:
The Story of the St. Francis Inn
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
59 minutes
Rescue Me
A film on the horrific plight of the poor and homeless of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles during 2003, and the heroic work of the Union Rescue Mission which offers them food, shelter and rehabilitation programs. The film presents a stark and unwelcome look at the tragic lives of people who are homeless. Yet amid the pain and suffering on full display on the mean streets of Skid Row, a nightmarish 50-block area in downtown Los Angeles where more than 10,000 people, including a shocking number of women and children, live in cardboard boxes or overcrowded missions, they find a place where love abounds standing ready to offer a helping hand and a way to a better life.
Rescue Me
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
3 hours, 24 minutes
A Distressing Disguise
This film is essentially a shortened, more meditative version of Rescue Me. It’s focus is more on the streets of Skid Row and far less of the work of the mission. The film was released a few years after Rescue Me and features new footage.
A Distressing Disguise
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
1 hour, 44 minutes
The Patients of a Saint
The Patients of a Saint is the story of an American doctor working in the high-tech world of a university hospital, who in 1983, felt compelled to abandon everything and enter the harsh world of extreme poverty and weakness in Peru. At first, Dr. Tony Lazzara worked in an adult clinic operated by Franciscan friars in Lima. Eventually his deep concern for poverty’s children prompted him to open his own clinic and home geared for the needs of destitute and sick kids. Today, the home: “Hogar de San Francisco de Asis”, houses children suffering from an array of illnesses and deformities. Dr. Tony absorbs all the costs. All housing, food, education, medical treatment and medication are offered free while a child is under his care.
The Patients of a Saint
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
1 hour, 55 minutes
The Smile of a Sick Child
In 2005 I made a sweet film titled The Patients of a Saint, which featured the heroic work of an American doctor who cared for very sick and impoverished children in Peru. Before moving to Peru, Dr. Tony Lazzara was the head of the neo-natal care unit of a university hospital, a high-end sophisticated doctor who dared to walk away from his privileged life and enter into the harsh world of extreme poverty and weakness.
The clinic he opened quickly turned into a home for as many as 60 kids who were too sick to be treated on an outpatient basis. Moreover, he the kids lived to far from the clinic to travel back and forth to their homes. The children suffer from a wide array illnesses, everything ranging from tuberculosis, cerebral palsy, leukemia, chronic diarrhea, and malnutrition to cleft palates and missing or deformed limbs. All the medical treatment, medication, physical therapy, housing, food and education, are provided for free while a child is under his care, sometimes for many years.
In late August of 2013, I returned to Dr. Tony’s home, known as Hogar San Francisco de Asis, to spend time with the doctor. I was so moved by his continued dedication to the kids, two of whom were featured in the first film, I decided to update the story. While the story is laced with heartache and anguish, hope burns brightly through the pain and suffering. Dr. Tony is a candle in the darkness of crippling, chronic poverty, bringing hope and healing to some of the sick children of Peru. Dr. Tony has given his life so countless impoverished children could have a life.
The Smile of a Sick Child
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
1 hour 41 minutes
Embracing the Leper
Embracing the Leper – Set in the Amazon region of Manaus, Brazil, the film shows how one man has made a huge difference in the lives of those suffering from Henson’s Disease, commonly known as leprosy. The port city of Manaus is plagued by poverty so lethal it is choking people to death. Hidden in the dreadful slums are countless malnourished children, who constantly face profound hunger, as well as scores of people who suffer from leprosy. Former Michigan lawyer and Secular Franciscan, Jim Flickinger, created the multidimensional project called Amazon Relief that offers a range of services that have a profound effect on the lives they touch. Through Amazon Relief discover a compassion that is extraordinary for the impoverished and outcasts of Brazil.
Embracing the Leper
A Film by Gerard Thomas Straub
32 minutes
One Human Family: Kenya
One Human Family is a visual meditation that documents the severity of global poverty and gives viewers a glimpse into the dreadful plight of the poor. In this film, Gerard Thomas Straub takes a journey through the slums and refugee camps of Kenya.
One Human Family: Kenya
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub 1 hour 46 minutes
Cathedrals of the Poor
Consists of fourteen scenes from seven of the San Damiano Foundation films that are orchestrated in a way that shows, not only the scope of chronic poverty, but also provides the theological underpinnings for why we have no option but to do all we can to relieve the suffering caused by the widespread, unjust poverty that is killing countless people every day. The film also contains a stunning 23-minute-long montage of images, which serves as a visual mediation on the wounded body of Christ, featuring never-before-seen footage and photographs. While it is emotionally draining and hard to watch, this film has the transformative power to change the heart of anyone who views it.
Cathedrals of the Poor
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
2 hours, 8 minutes
The Narrow Path
The Narrow Path – features the world-renowned author and peace activist Fr. John Dear. His message and supporting visuals (including the images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after their destruction that are graphic) are focused on prophetic Christian call to be peacemakers in a nation whose policies are often in direct contrast with this biblical mandate. From his own hermitage in New Mexico as well as in his retreats and lectures and interview statements in the midst of his peace demonstrations, John Dear presents and interprets the words and witness of the nonviolent Jesus in the midst of escalating violence around the world.
John’s statements expressing his deeply held and courageously lived out religious convictions, as well as equally compelling statements from other Christian peacemakers like Martin Luther King, Jr, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, plus some of the more political visuals disturb and challenge viewers at many levels. John makes us hear and see what we would rather not. This film engages us emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, and behaviorally. It invites us to feel and empathize more broadly, to think more critically, to pray more faithfully, and to act more courageously. His personal witness is as inspiring as it is troubling.
John Dear, who has been arrested and imprisoned over 75 times, crisscrosses the country and the world tirelessly preaching the message of the nonviolent Jesus. Sadly. This film will upset and disturb many people. But the Gospel is disturbing, if you take it seriously. Making this film changed my life and I now bring the message of nonviolence to Haiti amid barbaric violence.
The Narrow Path
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub
1 Hour 48 minutes
Silenzio: A Visual Meditation on Franciscan Italy
Silenzio is a film without words. Except for the brief prologue and epilogue, there isn’t even a hint of narration; all you will hear is beautiful, soothing, inspirational music. Moreover, about half the film consists of still photographs. Silenzio is about beauty, stillness, and silence. The sole purpose of the film is to reveal and celebrate the resplendent countryside and medieval towns that Saint Francis of Assisi loved very much. Along the way the film visits many exquisitely beautiful churches whose walls are covered with magnificent, centuries-old art. While the film takes you to the far-flung corners of Franciscan Italy, it is our sincere hope the film brings you to a deeper place of peace and tranquility within yourself. Don’t just watch the film…inhale it.
Silenzio is a cinematic tool to help you enter into the stillness and silence that is necessary for a time of meditation. Divided into ten short chapters, the film is not intended to be viewed in its entirety all at once. We hope the viewer only watches a chapter at a time on a daily or weekly basis…to help them quiet the frenetic pace of modern life and to open their eyes to the beauty and sacredness of life. The film is also a cinematic photo-album for anyone who has visited Assisi and wants to recapture the allure and spiritual enchantment of the holy little city that sits on a hill gently inviting visitors to embrace a spirit of contemplation and service.
Silenzio: A Visual Meditation on Franciscan Italy
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub 1 Hour 56 minutes
Holy Pictures
Holy Pictures is a 57-minute meditation of stillness and silence. It is more relevant today than
when it was made in 2003.
We are drowning is deafening sea of noise. We have become perpetual motion machines. The
single biggest need busy people face today is quiet. It is impossible to touch God on a deep
level is we do not recover the essential gift and grace of stillness and silence. We must guard
against the onslaught of distractions our culture hurls at us each day. In stillness we can sense
God’s movement. In silence we can hear God speak.
So much of life seems like an illusion, a dream of nightmare. Spacious sweeping landscapes,
however are real. The are open-air cathedrals. Open space has a spiritual dimension to it. Vast, unspoiled landscapes are sacred places, spiritual spaces. On the wings of a hummingbird my spirit flies to an awareness of the sacred. An incredibly beautiful world lies silently all around us—and within us— all the time, and it remains unseen, a lost paradise, until some quiet miracle opens our eyes and we see everything afresh. By grace, seeing deeply into a flower or a weather-beaten old barn or even the tormented face of a homeless person, we catch a glimpse of Paradise, a vestige of God.
Holy Pictures
A Film by Gerard Thomas Straub 57 minutes
Poverty and Prayer
Poverty & Prayer contains the best scenes from the first five films produced by the San Damiano Foundation, which was my first film ministry. They were When Did I See You Hungry?, Embracing the Leper, Rescue Me, Endless Exodus, and Holy Pictures.
Poverty and Prayer
A Film by Gerard Thomas Straub 1 hour 29 minutes
Poverty and Prayer II
Poverty & Prayer II contains the best scenes from four additional San Damiano Foundation films. They were The Patients of a Saint, Room at the Inn, Where Love Is, and The Narrow Path. The two poverty & prayer films were among the most popular SDF films; they were widely used by high school teachers.
Poverty and Prayer II
A Film by Gerard Thomas Straub 1 hour 29 minutes
The Faces of Poverty
The Faces of Poverty
A Film by Gerard Thomas Straub 1 hour 29 minutes
The Wings of Love
The story of San Gabriel Pastoral Region of Catholic Charities of Los Angeles that provides for the most vulnerable people in the vast area east of Los Angeles. Every year they offer food assistance to more than 40,000 hungry people. But they do much more than feeding people. With housing being so expensive and incomes so low, the loss of a job or an illness can thrust a family into homelessness. By providing utility, rental, and other financial assistance, Catholic Charities helps the poor keep a roof over their heads. They offer an array of educational programs to help people better manage their lives.
The Wings of Love
Produced, written and directed by Gerard Thomas Straub 1 Hour 34 minutes
The Spirit of St. Francis
The opening scene to an unfinished film.
The Spirit of St. Francis: A Meditation on Stillness and Silence