arts & life

television

Through
The Eyes
Of Believerc

A new weeklong series presented by Oprah Winfrey

invites viewers to witness some of the world's

most fascinating spiritual journeys.

Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer

David Shadrack Smith

42 October 15 •2015

111) avid Shadrack Smith,
without intention or
even expectation, per-
sonally fulfilled a goal of Belief,
the weeklong television series
about spirituality he executive
produced and directed for the
Oprah Winfrey Network.
Raised in Judaism and having
celebrated his bar mitzvah, Smith
entered the project with a more
secular outlook as influenced,
in part, by his long career docu-
menting foreign cultures. But
he exited the project with more
recognition of the impact a belief
system can exert — and encour-
aged more ritual in his family.
It is hoped that when the series
airs Oct. 18-24, viewers will build
on the ideas presented by think-
ing and talking about spiritual
beliefs — whether their own or
those held by others — in try-
ing to connect with something
greater than themselves. They
will have heard 28 personal sto-
ries of belief and seen outlooks
practiced over six continents.
"I directed the segment on
Mendel Hurwitz, and it was very
powerful for me explains Smith,
46, in a phone conversation about
the series' premiere documentary
that includes that young boy
preparing for his bar mitzvah in a
small Budapest synagogue.
"The idea that tradition could
transcend the tragic Holocaust
events in that city seemed to

PHOTO COURTESY OF HARPO, INC.

mirror the whole idea of a bar
mitzvah, during which the ideas
of a tradition are replanted in
the next generation. Seeing the
dedication and passion of Mendel
moved me to question my role as
a father.
"Coming back from shoot-
ing that episode, I [joined with]
my family to re-establish Friday
night Sabbath as a tradition.
We've seen how important it has
become for us to gather as a fam-
ily, have something regular in our
often-chaotic lives and meditate
on who we want to be:"
Other stories of Jewish tradi-
tion, including the experience
of Chasidic wedding rituals and
different practices in Jerusalem,
are punctuated with background
narration by Oprah Winfrey, also
an executive producer.
Among those telling very dif-
ferent stories will be a Christian
college student hoping to
reconnect with her evangelical
faith after a recent trauma, an
Indian-American woman prac-
ticing Hindu and traveling to
the banks of the Ganges River
for the world's largest spiritual
gathering (the Kumbh Mela) and
an Aboriginal elder in Australia
explaining tribal understandings
to a grandson.
"We wanted to tell stories
about the Holy Land as the nexus
of three monotheistic traditions
and also a place of such rich
and deep history that we really
couldn't talk about faith and
belief without going there Smith
says.
"We found several interesting
stories, particularly the story of
an orchestra made up of Jews,
Christians and Muslims learn-
ing how to play together. [As we
developed the series], we found

common ground in a divisive
world:"
Smith, who always wanted to
explore what was happening in
places far from his continuing
home base of Brooklyn, linked
interests in photography and
writing as he studied documen-
tary production while a history
major at Wesleyan University
in Connecticut. He credits his
innate curiosity as motivation.
"I've had the great fortune to
work all over the world:' says
Smith, who started out as a
cameraman assigned to China,
moved into responsibilities for
the Explorer series at the National
Geographic Channel and
launched part2 pictures in 2007.
As president of the production
company, he has partnered with
more than a dozen networks, deliv-
ered more than 130 hours of pro-
gramming, filmed in 35 countries
and earned two Emmy Awards,
five Cine Awards, a Gracie Award
and a Sundance Jury Prize.
Smith, whose varied program-
ming has reached from Our
America to Dixie Mafia, has
worked in Michigan many times.
His most recent project filmed
in Detroit, Satan Is Next Door for
CNN, can be seen Dec. 2.
"In a funny way, it's related to
belief:' says Smith, who relied on
teams around the world to find
people to interview for Belief
"We discovered that everyone
has a story of belief. We didn't
ask them to be representative of
a faith. Through their stories,
we can understand how their
belief systems inform their lives
and help them through whatever
moments they're going through
or whatever journeys or quests
they may be on:'
One of the stories that brought

