The First International Buddhist Film Festival Announces the Complete Schedule for Its Groundbreaking 4-Day Run at LACMA This Month
IBFF Presents 8 Premieres, Including the November 20th Opening Night Gala and U.S. Premiere of Travellers & Magicians by Khyentse Norbu, Who Will Attend Closing Night, November 23, Features the L.A. Premiere of Werner Herzog’s Wheel Of Time; the Director Will Also Be in Attendance Other Program Highlights Include the 11/22 U.S. Premieres of Home Street Home, Featuring Both Director George Schouten and Main Subject Bernie Glassman in Person; and Words of My Perfect Teacher, With Director Lesley Ann Patton and Subject Buddhist Lama Khyentse Norbu
LOS ANGELES, November 10 – The complete schedule for the inaugural run of the International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF) at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has been confirmed — all films will be screened in the Museum’s Bing Theater. During the four-day cultural event, kicking off November 20, and wrapping November 23, 2003, IBFF’s diverse line- up — which embraces a broad spectrum of Buddhist philosophy via features, shorts, documentaries and animation from around the globe — includes eight premieres, and features appearances from many of the filmmakers.
Among the premieres is the U.S. debut of the opening night feature, Travellers & Magicians, a road movie/fable centered on two frustrated dreamers set against a majestic Himalayan backdrop. Made in the Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan, it was directed by Khyentse Norbu, a.k.a. Bhutanese lama Dzongsar Khentse Rinpoche, who will be in attendance. Previously, Norbu directed the acclaimed 1999 film The Cup, and was an advisor for Bertolucci’s Little Buddha. Tickets for the Thursday, November 20, 7:30PM screening are $20, and a limited number of tickets including a gala opening night reception at LACMA are available for $100.
Closing night, Sunday, November 23 marks another first, the Los Angeles premiere of award-winning German filmmaker Werner Herzog’s feature work Wheel Of Time. Herzog applies his eccentric passion and vast cinematic skill to a discovery of Tibetan Buddhism. The film features compelling interviews with the Dalai Lama on a pilgrimage to Tibet’s Mt. Kailash, viewed by many Buddhists as “the axis of the universe,” and a special initiation ceremony in Bodhgaya, the place of Buddha’s enlightenment. Herzog will attend the 8PM screening; tickets are $8.
Tickets for all individual screenings, except opening night, are $8. A Festival Pass, permitting one entrance to every film shown during IBFF, is available for $80, and an all-day Friday pass for $30. All IBFF ticket holders will also enjoy free admission to LACMA during the run of the festival, including the current Buddhist Meditational art exhibition, “Circle Of Bliss” (closing January ’04), which includes a full-scale sand mandala by Tibetan monks in the Museum’s Ahmanson Building Atrium. For tickets and passes, call the LACMA box office at 323-857-6288. For opening night reception tickets and information, e-mail IBFF at info@ibff.org, or call 510-601-5111. The rest of the schedule is as follows:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21
1PM: The Anniversary, with Chasing Buddha: Talented young Vietnamese- American director Ham Tran will be in attendance for IBFF’s showing of his short The Anniversary (USA/2003), filmed by Before Night Falls’ cinematographer Guillermo Rosas. Buddhism is presented not as an escape to Nirvana, but as mindful reflection on the human condition. Chasing Buddha (Australia/2001) follows sharp-tongued, feminist Australian street drifter who finds Buddhism. This bold documentary was shot by Amiel Courtin, a teenager when the film was made.
3PM: Two Los Angeles premieres, Tassajara, and Peace Is Every Step — Meditation In Action. With Tassajara (USA/2003), director/cinematographer Frazer Bradshaw — who will be present — delivers a compelling, wordless visual poem that coaxes viewers to slow down and experience the pace of the first American Zen monastery. Directed by IBFF co-founder Gaetano Maida, who will appear in person, Peace Is Every Step — Meditation In Action (USA/1998) is narrated by Ben Kingsley, and documents the remarkable work of Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hahn.
5:30PM: The Los Angeles premiere of Hi! Dharma (Korea/2001). Directed by Kwan Park, this farcical comic feature is ultimately a substantive meditation on two worlds colliding, as gangsters on the lam seek refuge in a monastery in contemporary Korea.
7:30PM: The U.S. premiere of Words Of My Perfect Teacher (Canada/2003). An intimate and revealing documentary about Bhutanese lama Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche (aka Khyentse Norbu, director of Travellers & Magicians), the film is from the perspective of three students, and sheds an often comedic light on the disciple/guru relationship. Both filmmaker Lesley Ann Patton and subject Norbu will be in attendance.
9:45PM: “IBFF TAKES A FRESH LOOK” Part one of this special IBFF feature revisiting important films spotlights Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (USA/1999), Jim Jarmusch’s striking underworld homage to the Samurai tradition. The work stars Forest Whitaker, and a masterful hip-hop soundtrack by the Wutang Clan’s RZA.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22:
1PM: This special matinee Children’s Program — suitable for all ages — will feature several short subjects, including a classic episode of the hit Mike Judge-created Fox series King Of The Hill titled “Won’t You Pimai Neighbor” (2000). In this animated piece from episodic television, our hero Bobby Hill attends a Laotian New Year party and is identified as a possible reincarnate lama. Other program selections t.b.a.
6PM: Part two of “IBFF TAKES A FRESH LOOK” presents Jacob’s Ladder (USA/1990), a motion picture whose screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost) — who will attend — adapted from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Directed by Adrian Lyne, the feature stars Tim Robbins.
8PM: The U.S. premiere of Home Street Home (Holland/2003), following Brooklyn-born, LA-trained aeronautical engineer, political activist, baker, clown and Zen master Bernie Glassman as he dispenses his inimitable, organized, and inspired compassion. The feature-length documentary was directed by George Schouten, who will appear in person, as will Glassman.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23:
6PM: The only Sunday screening other than Werner Herzog’s aforementioned 8PM festival closer, Shower (China/1999) is a moving, insightful, and often humorous look at how a Vajrayana Buddhist spirit managed to survive China’s cultural revolution and flower in simple compassion.
IBFF is produced by the Berkeley, CA-based Buddhist Film Society, Inc. (BFS), a non-profit organization founded by scholars, authors, activists and filmmakers. BFS’s mission is threefold: to use cinema to foster communication about Buddhist ideas to the widest possible audience; to provide a comprehensive educational resource; and to facilitate quality independent filmmaking. BFS envisions the IBFF as an evolving resource that will circle the globe every two years. After IBFF launches at LACMA, the festival will travel to New York City, San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Taipei.
