OPENING NIGHT FILM!
COLORADO PREMIER
LOOKING FOR A LADY WITH FANGS AND A MOUSTACHE, directed by Khyentse Norbu
In our increasingly mechanized and automated world that frowns on superstition and mysticism, this story shows how vitally relevant our disappearing ancient wisdom and traditional beliefs still are. In particular, the film focuses on the age-old Himalayan celebration of feminine energy as the most supreme aspect of being. Crucial to our own volatile era, this energy is personified in tantric Buddhism by dakinis who may appear as living beings with almost supernatural powers to give or take away our life force and provide direction, guidance or ruin to our lives.
PRECIOUS GURU Journey into the Wild Heart of the Second Buddha, Endorsed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, directed by Marc Wennberg (Marc will be a special guest of the festival and will offer a Q&A and discussion after the film)
Precious Guru is a feature length documentary movie that gives vivid insight into the life, times and legacy of Padmasambhava – the 8th century Indian yogi who carried Buddhism over the Himalayas into Tibet.
The story unfolds against a backdrop of majestic mountain ranges and vast landscapes. It is told via the voices of people from three continents.
Revered for centuries in the Himalayan regions as the second Buddha, 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 – which translates as Precious Guru.
CARVING THE DIVINE: BUDDHIST SCULPTORS OF JAPAN, directed by Yujiro Seki
Master Koun Seki leads a Guild of young sculptors struggling to excel in the art of Buddhist woodcarving, and preserve their awe-inspiring, 1,400 year tradition in a rapidly changing Japan.
VISIONS OF A TEACHER, directed by Jaap Verhoeven
A behind the scenes film about buddhist master and filmmaker Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche,
also known as Khyentse Norbu.
ONE TRACK HEART: THE STORY OF KRISHNA DAS, directed by Jeremy Frindel
In 1970, a young musician named Jeffrey Kagel walked away from the American dream of rock ‘n’ roll stardom - turning down the lead singer slot in the band that would become Blue Oyster Cult. He sold all his possessions and moved from the suburbs of New York to the foothills of the Himalayas in search of happiness and a little-known saint named Karoli Baba (or Maharajji).
BECOMING NOBODY, directed by Jamie Catto
Becoming Nobody represents the core arc of Ram Dass’ teachings and life, whether as Dr. Richard Alpert, the eminent Harvard psychologist, or as Ram Dass who serves as a bridge between Eastern and Western philosophies, he has defined a generation of inner explorers and seekers of truth and wisdom. Ram Dass has worn many hats on his journey, the narrative of which is revealed in this 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…
RETURN TO GANDHI ROAD directed by 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.
RITUALS OF RESISTANCE directors Tenzin Phuntsog and Joy Dietrich
A Tibetan-American filmmaker explores modes of resistance to Chinese occupation by speaking with activists across generations. A former Tibetan monk broke his vows and became a guerilla leader. The filmmaker's own mother followed the Dalai Lama's Middle Path and raised her family in America.