Your idea sounds great!  My Ph.D. thesis was entitled "Cinema as Secular
Church," so I think I know what you're up to.
 
I would suggest the following:
 
Ivan Butler, Religion in the Cinema (New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1969)
 
John R. May and Michael Bird, eds. Religion in Film (Knoxville, U of
Tennessee Press, 1982)
and
 
Paul Schrader, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer
(Berkeley: U of Cal. Press, 1972)
 
 
Hope this helps,
 
Cheers,
 
Marty Fairbairn.
 
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