2016
Four monks, a royal scholar, and their American guru are fighting to save Bhutan's sacred arts while learning the art of letting go.
2014
In 2014, Tsai Ming-Liang was invited to make a film for the MarseilleFID, Marseille International Film Festival. Since he was not familiar with Marseille, he decided to make a film as tourist, capturing the beautiful Mediterranean sunshine in the late summer of that year. He also invited famous French actor, Denis Lavant, to appear alongside Lee Kang-Sheng playing Xuanzang. "Journey to the West" was invited to be the opening short film at the Berlin International Film Festival the same year.
2020
At nearly 30 years old, Pauline left her stressful life in Paris and started walking with nothing but her backpack, on the path to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Embarking on a four month long journey, she traveled over 2000 kilometers on foot from her native town of Strasbourg, France, meeting pilgrims from across the world along the road and asking them what made them go on this adventure. Whether it was a desire to reconnect with their inner selves, a desire to challenge themselves, or even as a spiritual quest : every path is unique. This documentary discusses a generation of pilgrims and their needs to review their everyday habits, to discover the unknown and experiencing the magic of life.
1936
In this Traveltalk short, the symbolic role of cherry blossoms in Japanese culture is explored as well as the traditional Japanese religions of Shintoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.
2006
How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.
Peyangki is a dreamy and solitary eight-year-old monk living in Laya, a Bhutanese village perched high in the Himalayas. Soon the world will come to him: the village is about to be connected to electricity, and the first television will flicker on before Peyangki's eyes.
2019
To address the social crisis, Chiken - a buddhist monk - throws himself into various tasks such as a suicide helpline, in his temple in Yamanashi. In Fukushima, his old mate Ryûgyô - whose temple was wrecked by the tsunami - lives in a portacabin and works on construction sites.
1993
A portrait of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, which includes historical footage of China's repression of Tibetan Buddhism in 1959.
The voyage of the Mayflower in 1620 has come to define the founding moment of America, celebrated each year at Thanksgiving. A lavish new drama documentary by Ric Burns, based on governor William Bradford's extraordinary eye-witness account, the Mayflower Pilgrims reveals the grim truth behind their voyage across the Atlantic. The Pilgrims story has come to define the founding moment of America and all it stands for. Celebrated each year at Thanksgiving, it is remembered as a pious crusade aimed at founding a Puritan paradise. However their journey from a harsh, often violent part of England to a colony assured of survival less than ten years later is also one of wealth, cruelty, and entrepreneurial genius.
Luzía visits the eight stages of the 'pilgrimage' that the intellectuals Otero Pedrayo, Vicente Risco and Ben-Cho-Shey hiked from Ourense to San Andrés de Teixido in 1927; the story of the journey was published in the book ‘Pelerinaxes I’ (Pilgrimages I). She carries out this journey in order to finish up an audiovisual project about Otero Pedrayo’s book started at the University, together with a colleague who passed away in an accident.
2021
Tina Turner overcame impossible odds to become one of the first female Black artists to reach a mainstream international audience. Her road to superstardom is an undeniable story of triumph over adversity. It’s the ultimate story of survival – and an inspirational story of our times.
2007
A Zen priest in San Francisco and cookbook author use Zen Buddhism and cooking to relate to everyday life.