Brother David and Francis Lu co-led 20+ film seminars at Esalen Institute from 1990 – 2016. Here is a list of more favorite films from those seminars to supplement the original list of twenty favorite films.

21. The Magic Flute
22. My Life as a Dog
23. The African Queen
24. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
25. Mother Teresa
26. Into the West
27. The Road Home
28. Shadowlands
29. Gandhi
30. The Rules of the Game
31. The Seventh Seal
32. Groundhog Day
33. Cherry Blossoms
34. All About My Mother
35. Shall We Dance? (1995)
36. The Mission
37. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
38. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
39. The Official Story
40. El Sistema

See also: Twenty Favorite Films

Photo by Jake Hills


Francis G. Lu, M.D.
Francis G. Lu, M.D.

Francis G. Lu, M.D., is the Luke & Grace Kim Endowed Professor Emeritus in Cultural Psychiatry at the University of California, Davis. He co-led more than 20 film seminars at Esalen with Brother David Steindl-Rast from 1990 - 2016.

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Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB
Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB

Brother David Steindl-Rast — author, scholar, and Benedictine monk — is beloved the world over for his enduring message about gratefulness as the true source of lasting happiness. Known to many as the “grandfather of gratitude,” Br. David has been a source of inspiration and spiritual friendship to countless leaders and luminaries around the world including Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton, and more. He has been one of the most important figures in the modern interfaith dialogue movement, and has taught with thought-leaders such as Eckhart Tolle, Jack Kornfield, and Roshi Joan Halifax. His wisdom has been featured in recent interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Krista Tippett, and Tami Simon and his TED talk has been viewed almost 10,000,000 times. Learn more about Br. David here.

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Br. David Steindl-Rast
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