A Life Ascending chronicles the life of acclaimed ski mountaineer and mountain guide Ruedi Beglinger. Living with his wife and two young daughters on a remote glacier in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Beglinger has built a reputation as one of the top mountaineering guides in the world. The film follows his family's unique life in the mountains and their journey in the years following a massive avalanche that killed seven people. Documenting the sublime beauty and ever-present risk of a life lived on the edge, the film ultimately explores the power of nature as both an unforgiving host and profound teacher. www.alifeascendingthemovie.com
English, some German with English subtitles
Maire O'Donnell is a loving woman as rare as a double rainbow. Joyful, warm and caring, she adopts a young orphan named Tomas and whisks him off to a new home on remote Corrie Island, off the coast of Ireland. Maire shares with Tomas the joys of her island home and introduces him to the whimsical local folklore, including the secret of the seals, and teaches him that everything you need is inside of you-if you really look. But Maire’s stern husband Alec silently disapproves of Tomas' timidity and halting speech. He can't hide his disappointment that Tomas isn't the kind of child he was hoping for and his reluctance to get to know the boy makes Tomas unsure of whether he really belongs. Soon though, Tomas too falls in love with his home, befriending local children, descending into a secret bat-filled cave, and saving a stranded baby seal. When tragedy strikes however, Tomas is faced with his greatest challenge yet. A Shine Of Rainbows is a story about the transformational power of love, about finding acceptance, discovering ourselves, and realizing that rainbows are all around us- and within us too. www.sepiafilms.com
Children
"The simplistic, often unfortunate divide between Abrahamic and Asian religions was challenged with the premier screening of Gerald Krell’s The Asian and Abrahamic Religions: A Divine Encounter in America. NAIN responded with a long-standing ovation. The two-hour film will be broadcast on PBS in one-hour segments, sponsored by Connecticut Public Television. For a child of Christian missionaries in Asia, the film was emotionally overwhelming, a movie I’ve waited my whole life to see. Told from the perspective of Abrahamic and Asian religions in the United States, it demonstrates how the nation’s emergent interfaith community is so much bigger than even interfaith activists have realized. May it be seen over and over again as the children of Abraham and the children of Asia get to know each other better." -Rev. Paul Chaffee, Executive Director, Interfaith Center at the Presidio, San Francisco, California. To many Americans the Asian religions remain a mystery. Yet the presence of the Asian religions has been growing on American soil almost from the country's beginning. Over time Asian religious practices began to influence and transform everyday life for ordinary Americans who discovered Yoga, meditation and the martial arts and healing. "The Asian and Abrahamic Religions: A Divine Encounter in America" explores the beliefs, practices and rituals of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism. Examining the similarities and differences with the Abrahamic religions, how they perceive each other, confront prejudice and stereotypes and how they can understand and respect one another. The primary aim of the documentary is to demystify the Asian religions; the misconceptions and stereotypes that many Americans have about them, and to show the deep historical roots of the Asian religions in America. The documentary will help create a broader acceptance of religious pluralism in the United States and the world, and serve as a catalyst for interfaith dialogue, understanding and respect. The documentary is also meant to help audiences find greater understanding of these religions as ways to refine and deepen their faith in their own religions; and clarify how they define their own identity. For decades in America formal interfaith conversations have typically involved Christians and Jews, or Christians, Jews and Muslims. Increasingly, however, adherents of these traditional "Abrahamic faiths" are becoming aware of and thoughtfully beginning to engage devout representatives of various Asian religions. In neighborhoods, in classrooms, in professional settings and in the public square, Americans are discovering the need to understand the religious values and customs of, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and others. Many peoples of the western world are hard pressed to begin to understand and appreciate these seemingly strange and unfamiliar eastern religions whose presence is well established, and growing on American soil. The program explores how these religions are similar to and yet different from Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Brilliant Moon: Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche chronicles the life of one of Tibet's most revered 20th-century teachers, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. A writer, poet and meditation master, Khyentse Rinpoche was an inspiration to all who encountered him. His many students throughout the world included the Dalai Lama and the King of Bhutan. Using animation, rare still and archival footage and filmed throughout Tibet, India, the USA, Bhutan, and Nepal, the film tells his story from birth to death to rebirth –his childhood, his escape from Tibet during China's invasion, his determination to rebuild and reestablish the tradition far and wide, and the discovery of his incarnation. This moving biography is told in part through interviews with the Dalai Lama, Matthieu Ricard, Rabjam Rinpoche, and others. The film is by Neten Chokling, director of Milarepa and a close student of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. http://brilliantmoon.squarespace.com
Chalo hamara des/ Come to my country: Journeys with Kabir and friends,explores the great poet of fifteenth-century North India, Kabir, and his living presence in South Asian music, religion, and society today. A provocative and challenging figure who can't be pinned down by any religious label, Kabir is admired by Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, secularists, and atheists, as well as by followers of the Kabir sect who claim him as a God. A profound mystic to some, a biting social critic to others, a Dalit hero to others, Kabir is all of these things and much more. His presence today can be sought in multiple social locations and in vibrantly diverse forms of music. www.kabirproject.org Dr. Linda Hess, who is featured in the film, will provide a reading of poems by Kabir following the screening.
Hindi, Malwi with English subtitles
