Walk with Me

The great composer Arvo Pärt at work, whilst the artists who perform his music and are inspired by it illustrate the different aspects of the phenomenon the man is.

In 2014, Tsai Ming-Liang was invited to make a film for the MarseilleFID, Marseille International Film Festival. Since he was not familiar with Marseille, he decided to make a film as tourist, capturing the beautiful Mediterranean sunshine in the late summer of that year. He also invited famous French actor, Denis Lavant, to appear alongside Lee Kang-Sheng playing Xuanzang. "Journey to the West" was invited to be the opening short film at the Berlin International Film Festival the same year.

How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.

The films looks through the eyes of the first generation of Western Dharma teachers at the myriad issues Buddhism faces and how it is adapting within a culture that runs on the engines of competition and greed, where many consider cruelty to be kindness and ignorance to be knowledge. But throughout its history Buddhism has adapted to new cultures with almost chameleon-like ease. So if its past is any judge, the sublime path our colonial forefathers dubbed Buddhism has begun a migration that over time will leave it, and quite possibly modernity itself, greatly transformed.

A Zen priest in San Francisco and cookbook author use Zen Buddhism and cooking to relate to everyday life.

Emocean started out as a surf film but quickly turned into something so much more than wild waves and barrel rides. This is a documentary with soul; a salty blend of stories by the eclectic assortment of people sharing tales of adventure, adrenaline, inspiration, love and loss and their relationship with the ocean. Some are well-known like Hawaii's Pipeline and California's Mavericks and others are remote spots tucked high up in North West Australia and deep in South Australia. This film, underpinned by inspiring surfing, is also a love letter to the sea woven through with experiences from surfers, filmmakers, fishermen, marine scientists and watermen.

Out of the spiritual chaos of the 1960s, more strange cults and unorthodox messiahs have emerged than ever. Charles Manson is seen as the annoying result of libertarianism of the 1960s - the Cain who murdered the Abel from The Love Generation. Or in the words of one commentator; "the Elvis of alienation."

Peyangki is a dreamy and solitary eight-year-old monk living in Laya, a Bhutanese village perched high in the Himalayas. Soon the world will come to him: the village is about to be connected to electricity, and the first television will flicker on before Peyangki's eyes.

The Fairy Trail - Naturgeistern auf der Spur

There are only a few Bluegrass Boys still around that played with the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe. Peter Rowan was a bluegrass boy in the 1960's for only a short time, but Bill's influence and musical knowledge still resonates with Peter. Even as he branched out into his own music after leaving Bill's band, his bluegrass roots were never far away. This portrait of Peter expands beyond his music to his artistic and spiritual endeavors spanning four decades giving the viewer an in-depth look at a true legend within our Americana musical history. His lyrical quality and melodies are memorable; influencing the next generation of musicians, sharing what Bill taught him and what he has learned being a troubadour traveling the world.

In the spring of 2017, film-makers Vincent Moon and Priscilla Telmon were invited to make a contemporaneous portrait of The Sai Anantam Ashram, the multi-ethnic and multi-generational spiritual community founded in 1983 by Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, which included speaking with some of the community's elders, as well as Alice's sister, singer Marilyn McLeod.

Three young ladies perform yoga without clothes in the open air of Cyprus. Another does the same in a studio. These visuals are interspersed with images of Eastern art, processed for "psychedelic" effect. The narrator relates the practice of yoga to Buddhist philosophy. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with British Film Institute in 2012.

Story of the merits of the revered abbot Luang Pho Khoon.

A portrait of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, which includes historical footage of China's repression of Tibetan Buddhism in 1959.

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

Four monks, a royal scholar, and their American guru are fighting to save Bhutan's sacred arts while learning the art of letting go.

These days it seems that nothing is as polarizing and controversial as religious belief. Everywhere one goes it seems that people are asking the question: Do we even need religion? Is it limiting our understanding? What kind of world is being produced by these faith systems? Regardless of your answers to these questions, it is hard to deny that worship still plays an important role in many people's lives and many people simply do not understand where others are coming from. Believers is a unique exploration of those questions related to faith by focusing the lens on five of the world's belief systems, Agnosticism, and the new Atheism. The film follows Sacha Sewhdat's personal journey towards understanding as he searches for the value of religion in modern society. With honesty and objectivity Sacha explores what it means to believe in a higher power or what it would mean to let those beliefs go. It will both inform and challenge what you know about religion in the 21st Century.

Monarch butterflies have brought hope to the darkest times of people's lives. In Mexico, when they arrive for Day of the Dead, they are thought to be souls of the departed. Coincidence?

In Touching Peace, Thich Nhat Hanh expands the teachings on practicing the art of mindful living begun in the best-selling Being Peace by giving specific, practical instructions on extending our meditation practice into our daily lives.

The Music of the Spheres