Directed by Pema Tseden • Drama • With Zong Zhi, Manla Jiepu, Dobe Dorje, Drolma Gyab, Lumo Tso • 2013 • 105 minutes
A director, his assistant, and a businessman drive through the Amdo region of Tibet, scouring small villages to find actors for their adaptation of the namthar of Drime Kunden, an opera traditionally performed for the Tibetan New Year, that tells the story of a prince-an early incarnation of Buddha-who gives away all his possessions, his wife and children, and even his own eyes.
Driving through the country's stunning landscapes, the crew meets frustration in their search for actors who can live up to the legendary roles. They find that while many of the traditions they would like to film have persisted, others are disappearing.
Directed by Pema Tseden, whose SILENT HOLY STONES was China's first Tibetan-language film, THE SEARCH reveals a contemporary Tibet where the ancient and the modern co-exist.
"This film uses perfectly framed long takes, from a largely distant yet intimately engaged camera...a masterpiece of understated emotional longing set against an urgent desire to preserve a disappearing culture."—Cinema Scope
Directed by Barry Strugatz • Documentary • 2016 • 72 minutes
The Professor is a documentary about Tai Chi and one of its great masters, Cheng Man-Ching, a man who brought Tai Chi and Chinese culture to the West during the swinging, turbulent 60s. Featuring a rich array of vintage archival footag...
Directed by Kihachiro Kawamoto • Animation • 2014 • 70 minutes
Master animator Kihachiro Kawamoto's tour de force adventure tale of a young noble girl in 8th-century Japan who leaves her home to follow the apparition of an executed prince in this ravishing film of beauty and mysticism.
As Buddh...
Directed by Brent E. Huffman • Documentary • 2015 • 58 minutes
SAVING MES AYNAK follows Afghan archaeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save a 5,000-year-old archaeological site in Afghanistan from imminent demolition. A Chinese state-owned mining company is closing in on the ancie...
