Thursday, August 27, 2009

Zen Buddhism documentary selected for Film Festival

Zen Buddhism: In Search of Self has been named an official selection of the 2009 T.H.I.S. Buddhist Film Festival to be held September 13th to 19th at the Shaw Brothers’ Lido Cinema in Singapore.

Zen Buddhism: In Search of Self, available from www.TurtlePress.com, is the only film ever to document the daily lives of female Korean Buddhist Nuns and their 1000-year old tradition of gathering for a ninety day period of meditation, fasting and contemplation deep in the mountains of South Korea. It has been compared in atmosphere and style to Into Great Silence, the Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentary.

The festival features an international line-up of 10 films showcasing Buddhist values and cultures from all over the world, including China, Thailand, Japan, Tibet, Afghanistan, Iceland and the United States. The festival opens with the acclaimed Chinese film A Full Bright Moon and closes with the Berlin International Film Festival Peace Film award winner Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame.

The film festival aims to promote awareness of the Buddha’s timeless Teachings and diversity of Buddhist cultures around the world through the use of film, a contemporary medium. Playing on the oft-cited verse “Thus have I heard” (T.H.I.S. stands for Thus Have I Seen) at the start of many Buddhist sutras, T.H.I.S. Buddhist Film Festival 2009 hopes to achieve a similar reflection amongst Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, as they discuss Buddhist Teachings and values featured in the films.