Films can do so much more than entertain; they have the power to challenge us, change us, and expand our minds. If you’re interested in exploring the deeper questions of life, consciousness, and the universe, we have the perfect playlist for you. From our newest addition, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, starring everyone’s favorite Marxist cultural theorist Slavoj Žižek, to documentaries on mindfulness and biopics about famed philosophers and neurologists, these titles will open the door to new ideas, beliefs, and perceptions. Stream them all on Kino Film Collection and prepare to have your mind blown.
The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2013)
Cultural theorist superstar Slavoj Žižek re-teams with director Sophie Fiennes (The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema) for another wildly entertaining romp through the crossroads of cinema and philosophy. With infectious zeal and a voracious appetite for popular culture, Žižek literally goes inside some truly epochal movies to explore and expose how they reinforce prevailing ideologies.
Walk With Me (2017)
Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch and featuring unprecedented access, Walk With Me takes us deep inside the world-famous monastery of Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, who was instrumental in popularizing mindfulness practices in the Western world.
Dying to Know (2015)
Robert Redford narrates this intimate portrait of Harvard psychology professors Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, who began probing the edges of consciousness through psychedelics. Now, nearly 50 years later, this documentary re-assesses the lives of two iconic figures, their work, their successes and failures, the times they lived in and their remarkable shared journey through life.
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Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (2020)
A month after receiving a fatal diagnosis, esteemed neurologist Oliver Sacks sat down for a series of interviews in his apartment in New York City. For eighty hours, surrounded by family, friends, and notebooks from six decades of thinking and writing about the brain, he talked about his life and work, his abiding sense of wonder at the natural world, and the place of human beings within it.
Wittgenstein (1993)
A humorous portrait of one of the 20th century’s most influential philosophers, Ludwig Wittgenstein. This self-tortured Viennese eccentric, who preferred detective fiction and the musicals of Carmen Miranda to Aristotle, is a fitting subject for Derek Jarman’s irreverent imagination. A profoundly entertaining work about modern philosophy and the dark genius that revolutionized it.
Zen For Nothing (2017)
A masterly immersion into life at a Japanese Zen monastery that is both simple and beautifully filmed, director Werner Penzel's documentary follows a young woman as she encounters the philosophy of the Japanese Zen master Kodo Sawaki and the surprises brought forth by everyday monastic life.
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Mantra: Sounds into Silence (2018)
A feature-length documentary exploring the growing musical and social phenomenon of chanting, Mantra: Sounds into Silence shares the stories of people who are finding healing and a sense of inner peace by singing mantras together. It’s a film about spirituality not religion, about people reconnecting with their true selves and with others.
American Yogi (2018)
American Yogi is a delightful autobiographical documentary about a nice Jewish boy from Miami who travels to San Francisco for the “Summer of Love” and returns a hippie. Later, as a successful but dissatisfied businessman, he discovers Ram Dass’s iconic book "Be Here Now" about the Indian Saint Maharajji and decides to travel to India in search of a more meaningful life.
Monk With a Camera (2014)
Nicholas Vreeland walked away from a life of privilege to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk in 1972. Grandson of legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, and trained by Irving Penn to become a photographer, Nicholas' life changed drastically upon meeting one of the teachers of the Dalai Lama. Soon thereafter, he gave up his glamorous life to live in a monastery in India, where he studied Buddhism for fourteen years.
Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt (2015)
This spirited and thought-provoking documentary about German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt dives into rare, archival footage to offer a portrait of the woman whose insights into the nature of evil, totalitarianism, and the perils faced by refugees are more relevant now than ever.