Tea Reverie
USA / 4 min / Dir: Yonsu Kim / Animation / 2007 / Australian Premiere
The exploration of Tee who is searching for happiness in a surreal forest.
Conflation
France / USA / 14 min / Dir: Stephanie Joalland / Short / 2007 / World Premiere
Sometimes you're really not the same person in the morning...
Pivot
USA / 15 min / Dir: Julius Ramsay / Short / 2007 / Australian Premiere
After awaking on a deserted beach, an old man wreaks havoc in the lives of two estranged lovers. As his mysterious motives come to light, the destinies of the three converge towards a strange and fateful end.
Meditations on a Name
Australia / 9 min / Dir: Bonnie Elliott / Short / 2007
Meditations on a Name is the story of a father and daughter on the road for one long hot day. Wattle can only barely tolerate the antics of her hippy dad Rajen - he stops to meditate by the side of the road every hour of the drive, he chants along to Indian music as he drives, and the oldest and worst crime of all - he named her after a native flower, and it’s a name it hasn’t been easy to live with.
Rajen is a spiritual seeker who is seemingly unaware of the difficulties he has caused for his daughter. During the course of the trip they argue about Wattle’s name, and Rajen is forced to find a way of helping his daughter come to terms with her name, and him.
Meditations on a Name is about the difficulty of accepting our parents, and the necessity of doing so.
Through the Eastern Gate
Switzerland / 50 min / Dir: Julien Balmer / Documentary / 2007 / Australian Premiere
Filmed in the gorgeous countryside and ancient cities of India and Turkey, this quiet, compelling documentary follows three young people who have turned their backs on the material comforts and distractions of the West to find meaning in the spiritual philosophies of the East.
Sister Yeshe Chodron's journey led her from Australia to the foothills of the Himalayas, and life as a Buddhist nun. On a riverbank in southern India, Ronela Vainio, a native of Finland, immerses herself in tantric yoga. A tall Californian, Aziz Abbatiello lives as a Sufi dervish in Turkey, where he prays, sings, and spins himself into spiritual ecstasy. Against the idyllic settings in which the young people practice their disciplines, speeded-up scenes of Western life indict a world of hurried and aimless pursuits. Yet we also see the challenges of the lives these three have chosen - not merely material sacrifices, but the sheer effort of delving ever deeper beneath the surface trappings to attain true spirituality. 'It's easy to go around in circles', says Aziz, ' but to empty yourself of yourself, that's a struggle'. 'My family still wonders why I wanted to go so far away', says Ronela, 'why I don't live like a normal human being'.
The Dalai Lama's Cat
Australia/Nepal/Tibet / 42 min / Dir: Michael Boswell / Documentary / Australian Premiere
Two friends travel across Tibet to Mount Kailash, where a “kora” around the base is said to absolve the sins of a lifetime. Peter dreams of completing the pilgrimage before his wedding. Mike is along for the ride. They’ve heard a tale involving the Dalai Lama’s cats and what happened to them when His Holiness had to flee for his life in 1959.
This story sets the tone of the film: an exploration of the situation in Tibet with a nod to the absurd. Witness the conditions of the Tibetans, and the incredible mythic structure of Tibetan Buddhism – with a poignant reminder that what you see is not necessarily the whole truth. This dizzying journey captures the magic of the plateau and its people, without ever taking itself too seriously.
Filmmaker Michael Boswell will be in attendance.
|
