With unprecedented access, the film goes deep inside a Zen Buddhist community who have given up all their possessions and signed up to a life of chastity for one common purpose - to transform their suffering, and practice the art of mindfulness with the world-famous teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. Filmed over three years, in their monastery in rural France and on the road in the USA, this visceral film is a meditation on a community grappling with existential questions and the everyday routine of monastic life. As the seasons come and go, the monastics' pursuit for a deeper connection to themselves and the world around them is amplified by insights from Thich Nhat Hanh's early journals, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Laurie Anderson embarks on a cinematic journey through love, death and language. Cantering on Anderson's beloved rat terrier Lolabelle, who died in 2011, the film is a personal essay that weaves together childhood memories, video diaries, philosophical musings on data collection, surveillance culture and the Buddhist conception of the afterlife, and heartfelt tributes to the artists, writers, musicians and thinkers who inspire her. Fusing her own witty, inquisitive narration with original violin compositions, hand-drawn animation, 8mm home movies and artwork culled from exhibitions past and present, Anderson creates a hypnotic, collage-like visual language out of the raw materials of her life and art, examining how stories are constructed and told - and how we use them to make sense of our lives.
Buddhists, Hindus, and hundreds of thousands of travellers from around the globe flock to Cambodia every year to experience the grandeur of Angkor. Its famous temples were built over the span of five centuries by the rulers of the Khmer Empire, and endure today as one of Earth's greatest archaeological wonders. Join us as we shed light on one of the most enigmatic, mesmerizing civilizations in the history of mankind. We peel away the myth and legend to uncover the hidden story behind the creation of this ancient city. Angkor Wat is the largest temple on the face of the Earth and is a symbol of one of the greatest empires in the history of Southeast Asia. And yet, for centuries, the sacred structure remained lost within the tropical forests of Cambodia, along with the history of the young king who built the temple. Discover the story of Suryavarman II and how he ushered in the golden age of the Khmer Empire. See how Angkor Wat was constructed over four backbreaking decades, and witness the monument in its true glory and splendour, as it appeared 900 years ago.
The documentary 'The Knowledge of Healing' is an illuminating examination of Tibetan medicine, a practice which has developed over two millennia into a modern day successful method of healing that rivals western medical practices. Unlike Western medicine, based on biochemistry, Tibetan medical thinking (which is strongly rooted in Buddhist principles) views the human body as governed by an elaborately organized system of energies flowing through a network of channels. In the 12th century, the Gyüshi (Knowledge of Healing) was created, a text codifying this intricate system. The medications used comprise herbs, roots, minerals, etc. After flourishing for centuries, most Tibetan medical schools were destroyed by the Chinese in the 1950's and 1960's, and many physicians were executed. Speaking from exile, the Dalai Lama argues for the value of Tibetan medicine, while his personal physician Dr. Tenzin Choedrak describes the principles behind it. We follow physicians in India and Siberia treating patients for a variety of ailments from paralysis to heart disease, and meet researchers in Israel and Switzerland to see how western clinical studies are testing the effectiveness of Tibetan medicine.
Hollywood actor Jason Scott Lee has been a student of Bruce Lee's martial art Jeet Kune Do for 20 years and in Secrets Of Shaolin. He fulfils his lifelong dream of joining the institution that invented kung fu - Shaolin Temple. In an intense two-week kung fu bootcamp, Jason will not only discover Shaolin's centuries old secrets of turning the human body into the ultimate weapon, but also experience the spiritual effects of it's Zen Buddhist practices. Secrets of Shaolin promises to be a stunning, action-packed insight into the world's most famous martial art and a spectacular celebration of the place, people and culture that has inspired generations of fans.
After 400 BC, a new philosophy was born in South east Asia, generated from the ideas of Buddha, a mysterious Prince from India who gained enlightenment while he sat under a large, shapely fig tree. He remains one of the most legendary and influential of all religious progenitors, but what of his actual life? In this biographical documentary, director David Grubin tells the historical tale of Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC), from his initial enlightenment through his death around the age of 80. In the process, Grubin makes an unusual point: that Gautama never once claimed to be God or God's emissary, but instead sought to find a way to bring peace and alleviation from suffering to others in a cruel and often insane world. In telling this story, Grubin combines a number of elements including original animations, testimony by contemporary Buddhists such as the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, glimpses of sculptures and paintings that help tell Gautama's story, and much more. Narrated by Richard Gere
Filmed over three years, in their monastery in rural France and on the road in the USA, this visceral film is a meditation on a community grappling with existential questions and the everyday routine of monastic life. As the seasons come and go, the monastics' pursuit for a deeper connection to themselves and the world around them is amplified by insights from Thich Nhat Hanh's early journals, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.