Last August, I offered a post entitled "Buddhism and Film" that inspired some passionate comments and delightful email exchanges. I'm billing this post as a sequel of sorts, but I fear that it's probably a misnomer--it's more a collection of information about some recent and exciting developments for those of us interested in the places where Buddhist studies and film studies converge.
Bruce Leutwyler, for instance, recently started a "Wiki page" called DharmaFlix.com, a database of links for those of us interested in the presence of Buddhist themes in films.
Last month, director Luc Schaedler screened his film Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet, a documentary about Gendun Choepel, at UCLA's Asia Institute, with Khen Rinpoche Kachen Lobzang Tsetan and Donald S. Lopez, Jr., offering readings of Choepel's poetry.
Around the same time, the Minneapolis Riverview Theater hosted the Rimé Foundation's 2007 Tibetan Film Festival. The Asian Buddhist Film Festival was also launched in Singapore by the California-based Buddhist Film Society. [Inspired by the latter festival, the Chicago Sun-Times ran a curious musing by Cathleen Falsani entitled "Projecting Buddhism".]
Finally, as mentioned recently, Festival Media has continued to add to their catalog of DVD documentaries about Buddhism. What's more, all six films that they have released on DVD are currently being screened at New York City's Rubin Museum of Art as part of their exhibition of The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama.
I don't have any fresh perspectives from a Buddhist point of view on any particular films this time around. In catching up on last year's crop of releases, though, I have managed to see quite a few good films. So far, I've really liked The Departed, The Prestige, The Science of Sleep, Miami Vice, and Water.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
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2 comments:
take a second look at the "projecting buddhism" column. i think you might have missed the point as it's not what you describe.
thanks for the shout-out tho, and neat site.
grace,
cf/gg
CF:
I've altered the sentence about your piece.
[The original sentence read, "Inspired by the latter festival, the Chicago Sun-Times ran a curious musing by Cathleen Falsani about 'projecting' Buddhism onto films that ostensibly have nothing to do with the Buddhadharma." - ed.]
My original description was based on the thread running through your piece about giving artwork religious labels, subtle and obvious religious content, the artist's intent, and the effect on the beholder. I was also thinking about statements like Harold Ramis's description of Groundhog Day as I wrote. I probably could have said it better, especially considering the fact that you mentioned films and TV episodes that are on the surface "about" Buddhism and others that are not.
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