Opening Night Film

Colorado Premier

LOOKING FOR A LADY WITH FANGS AND A MOUSTACHE BY KHYENTSE NORBU

LOOKING FOR A LADY WITH FANGS AND A MOUSTACHE , director Khyentse Norbu

When a series of visions send a skeptical entrepreneur to seek spiritual advice, an eccentric Buddhist monk predicts his imminent death, unless he can locate an elusive lady with fangs. 1hr 53 min

PRECIOUS GURU - JOURNEY INTO THE WILD HEART OF THE SECOND BUDDHA, director Marc Wennberg

Endorsed by his Holiness The Dalai Lama, Precious Guru is a feature documentary that gives vivid insight into the life, times, and legacy of “the second Buddha”: Padmasambhava, the 8th century Indian yogi who carried Buddhism over the Himalayas into Tibet. In contrast to the first Buddha, Shakamuni, Padmasambhava was not an ascetic monk, rather more a wild man who had many lovers, as well as a magician who had a miraculous birth, subdued demons, and bound them to the dharma, the Buddhist teachings: in short, a Buddha for our times. Beneath the tales of his fabulous exploits lies a radically relevant truth – the darker the times, the greater the potential for transformation. Revered for centuries in the Himalayan regions, Padmasambhava’s influence is now a global phenomenon, carried across the world by refugee lamas, following the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1959. He is also known as Guru Rinpoche, or ‘Precious Guru’. 70 min

With in person interview with director Marc Wennberg and filmmaker of Lion’s Roar Mark Elliott after the film.

DHARMA REBEL, a film by Babeth Mondini VanLoo

With a body full of tattoos, the American punk and Buddhist teacher Noah Levine is no typical Buddhist. His movement Against The Stream appeals to a diversity of people, who are not easily reached by the more traditional Buddhist centers.

Dharma Rebel was initially going to be a film about Refuge Recovery. With this successful Buddhist recovery program Levine developed a method to help people recover from addiction. During the making of the film, when an ex-girlfriend of Noah Levine accuses him of sexual misconduct, the direction of the film takes a different turn… 1 hr 11 min

With in person interviews with Noah Levine and director Babeth VanLoo after the film.

CARVING THE DIVINE - BUDDHIST SCULPTORS OF JAPAN, a film by Yujiro Seki

Carving the Divine is a documentary film that offers a rare look into a 1400-year-old Buddhist woodcarving tradition and the practitioners struggling to preserve its legacy in a rapidly changing Japan. 1 hr 39 min

ONE TRACK HEART: THE STORY OF KRISHNA DAS, director Jeremy Frindel

In 1970, Jeffrey Kagel walked away from the American dream of rock 'n' roll stardom, turning down the chance to record as lead singer for the band soon-to-be the Blue Oyster Cult. Instead, he sold all his possessions and moved from the suburbs of Long Island to the foothills of the Himalayas in search of happiness and a little-known saint named Neem Karoli Baba. ONE TRACK HEART: THE STORY OF KRISHNA DAS follows his journey to India and back, witnessing his struggles with depression and drug abuse, to his eventual emergence as Krishna Das, world-renowned spiritual teacher and Grammy nominated chant master. 1 hr 14 min

BECOMING NOBODY, director Jamie Catto

Director's interviews, accompanied by archival footage and original music, Ram Dass explores our universal human condition and behaviors in connection to the journey of the soul and the shared unity of all of our lives. 1 hr 21 min

We will be showing an exclusive video courtesy of the Love, Serve, Remember Foundation from their recent course “Finding Harmony in Today’s World: Ram Dass on the Mythical Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. One can access the course at RamDas.org/Courses. 27 min

Elucidating the transition from intellect to wisdom, Ram Dass shares tangible real-world examples, among over-the-top personal psychedelic experiences, to help us move past the tendrils of mind, down into the intuitive heart. Applying passages from the Gita to his own life, Ram Dass vulnerably and hilariously shares perspectives on how we can begin to extricate ourselves from attachment by residing in the atman. 

RITUALS OF RESISTANCE, Directed by Joy Dietrich, Tenzin Phuntsog

A Tibetan-American filmmaker explores modes of resistance to Chinese occupation by speaking with three-generations of exiled activists from disparate areas of the world. Personal testimonies of resilience reveal a portrait of transgenerational trauma in the face of oppression. 1 hr 3 min

VISIONS OF A TEACHER, director Jaap Verhoeven

Khyentse Norbu, also known as Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche (1961) was recognized at the age of seven as a prominent incarnation in the Tibetan tradition. He is the spiritual leader of monasteries in Tibet, Bhutan, and India. He also leads “84000”, the largest ever translation project of Buddhist texts.

In the West, he is best known as a film director, including The Cup. In this documentary, we see him in Nepal during the filming for his latest film LOOKING FOR A LADY WITH FANGS AND A MOUSTACHE, where he effortlessly switches between working with the hip film crew and performing ancient Buddhist rituals.

Khyentse Norbu is aware of the challenges facing Buddhism today. What remains relevant of traditional forms of teaching and meditation? How does he see his role as a teacher in this age of interaction between cultures and demystification of gurus? Khyentse Norbu shows in a fantastic, almost magical way how prayers to the goddess Tara and the creation of modern film do not have to differ essentially from each other. Both have the potential to show us who we are. 80 min.

RETURN TO GANDHI ROAD, director Yeshe Hegan

Return to Gandhi Road tells the powerful story of Kangyur Rinpoche; a renowned Tibetan Master who, heeding the imminent danger of the 1950's Cultural Revolution, and under the instructions of the Dalai Lama, braved the dangerous journey over the Himalayan mountains to India, rescuing two tons of Buddhist texts that otherwise faced potential extinction. The journey took over three years, was undertaken on foot accompanied by his young family, and involved immense physical hardship. Once in Darjeeling he built Orgyen Kunsang Chokhorling, a Monastery at 54 Gandhi Road. It was at this address that a handful of single-minded Westerners, in search of a more meaningful life, began to arrive in the late 1960's. Their meeting, although brief (with Rinpoche's passing in 1975), eventually had an extraordinary widespread effect - directly contributing to Buddhism's spread throughout the Western world. Told through the eyes of one of those first Westerners, New Zealander Kim Hegan, as he now, more than 40 years after Rinpoche's passing and his Buddhist practice abandoned, will re-trace the journey he made to Darjeeling 46 years earlier, to tell Rinpoche's profound story, while healing the trauma that kept him away for so long. 1 hr 30 min

BEYOND TWO WORLDS:  Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche IX, director and editor Jocelyn Fay Meli

This feature length documentary celebrates the life of Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche IX (1955-2012). A remarkable Tibetan Buddhist teacher who escaped the Chinese invasion of Tibet at the age of five. Brought up in India as a monk in the Kagyu Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, at the age of 25 Rinpoche disrobed, found his home in Australia and eventually married. After 37 years he was able to returned to his homeland and his people. Throughout his life Rinpoche traveled the world and authored many books teaching the Buddha Dharma until his passing 24 July 2012. Take a journey with the remarkable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche IX in Beyond Two Worlds. 1hr 47 min