Thanks to Babeth van Loo and many others, Amsterdam was once again blessed with a whole range of movies and documentaries about Buddhism, Tibet, art and many more topics, on the Buddhist Film Festival Europe. Entertainment for Buddhists, and anyone with an interest. Probably mostly anyone else with an interest.
The festival opened with Khyentse Norbu's new film, Hema Hema: sing me a song while I wait. It was sold out long before and the theatre was pretty much packed. I don't want to say much about the movie; like other movies from Khyentse Rinpoche, its quite beyond concepts and you'll just have to go and watch it yourself.
The whole weekend was packed with interesting things. We might think in this digital age we do not need to bother going to a film festival. But a lot of the movies are quite rare, and you won't easily find them elsewhere. And as Babeth mentioned herself, the hallmark of a film-festival is that for at least some of the films the producers are there themselves to talk about their film and answer questions.
On Saturday, after a long Zen movie (A Touch of Zen), first there was a short film about Dzigar Kongtrul's expressive art. Then there was a film called 'Sculpting the Guru'. Some students of Tarthang Tulku filmed the process of making a large statue of Padmasambhava. Despite the fact that the filming was quite amateurish, and also the soundtrack could have been better (most people would probably not have noticed, but as someone who speaks Tibetan, Western people chanting Tibetan can be quite appalling), still it was quite endearing to see how just a handful of people managed to create such a work of art. Having been involved in some temple building myself, I think the most amazing feat is that they actually pulled it of and did everything themselves, even the whole gilding of the bronze.
But here I want to bring one film under your attention which left many people pleasantly surprised: The Great Transmission. This film was made by one of Tarthang Tulku's daughters. It explores the remarkable journeys Buddhist knowledge has made in the course of its 2,500-year lifespan, starting in India, and then travelling as far east as Afghanistan, as far west as Indonesia, and as far north as China.
And that is, the great transmission. We witness the hardship the Tibetan people, and in particular the translators, have gone through in their quest to acquire and translate the great Indian treatises.
But while Buddhism came to Tibet, it was destroyed in India. Here we see Nalanda being burned to the ground. In the 20th century, history repeats itself, when the Chinese invade Tibet. We then shift to another major part of the film, the unrelenting efforts of Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche to publish these precious books and make them available to the scholars and practitioners who are in dire need of them in exile.
This was not an amateur film, on the contrary, it was very well directed and even the special effects and computer-made scenes were quite impressive. Many prominent speakers pass the review, like Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, Peter Skilling and many others. Orgyan Tobgyal spoke poetically, as always, praising Tarthang Tulku's activities: "In Bodhgaya, at some point, it just rained down Tibetan books (distributed by Tarthang Tulku).
This is definitively a film Dharma centres in the West should consider screening.
The festival opened with Khyentse Norbu's new film, Hema Hema: sing me a song while I wait. It was sold out long before and the theatre was pretty much packed. I don't want to say much about the movie; like other movies from Khyentse Rinpoche, its quite beyond concepts and you'll just have to go and watch it yourself.
The whole weekend was packed with interesting things. We might think in this digital age we do not need to bother going to a film festival. But a lot of the movies are quite rare, and you won't easily find them elsewhere. And as Babeth mentioned herself, the hallmark of a film-festival is that for at least some of the films the producers are there themselves to talk about their film and answer questions.
On Saturday, after a long Zen movie (A Touch of Zen), first there was a short film about Dzigar Kongtrul's expressive art. Then there was a film called 'Sculpting the Guru'. Some students of Tarthang Tulku filmed the process of making a large statue of Padmasambhava. Despite the fact that the filming was quite amateurish, and also the soundtrack could have been better (most people would probably not have noticed, but as someone who speaks Tibetan, Western people chanting Tibetan can be quite appalling), still it was quite endearing to see how just a handful of people managed to create such a work of art. Having been involved in some temple building myself, I think the most amazing feat is that they actually pulled it of and did everything themselves, even the whole gilding of the bronze.
But here I want to bring one film under your attention which left many people pleasantly surprised: The Great Transmission. This film was made by one of Tarthang Tulku's daughters. It explores the remarkable journeys Buddhist knowledge has made in the course of its 2,500-year lifespan, starting in India, and then travelling as far east as Afghanistan, as far west as Indonesia, and as far north as China.
But while Buddhism came to Tibet, it was destroyed in India. Here we see Nalanda being burned to the ground. In the 20th century, history repeats itself, when the Chinese invade Tibet. We then shift to another major part of the film, the unrelenting efforts of Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche to publish these precious books and make them available to the scholars and practitioners who are in dire need of them in exile.
This was not an amateur film, on the contrary, it was very well directed and even the special effects and computer-made scenes were quite impressive. Many prominent speakers pass the review, like Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, Peter Skilling and many others. Orgyan Tobgyal spoke poetically, as always, praising Tarthang Tulku's activities: "In Bodhgaya, at some point, it just rained down Tibetan books (distributed by Tarthang Tulku).
This is definitively a film Dharma centres in the West should consider screening.
Some old friends of us also passed the review:
