Last month, the 14th Dalai Lama turned 82. In this powerful documentary, the great spiritual leader opens up candidly about his regrets, unfulfilled dreams, frustrations, the inevitability of death, and his next incarnation.
Filmmaker Mickey Lemle has a friendship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama dating back to before the making of his 1991 documentary Compassion In Exile: The Story of The 14th Dalai Lama. In this remarkably intimate new film, Lemle uses his unprecedented access to weave together archival footage with new interviews with the exiled Buddhist leader, touching on the historic confrontation between Tibet and China; his worldwide political, spiritual, and educational influence; and his feelings on aging, dying and reincarnation.
The film also champions the Dalai Lama’s philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism as a “science of the mind”, delving into his work with world-renowned neuroscientists to prove scientifically that his psychological methods of conquering anger, greed, jealousy, sloth and ignorance can be learned by anyone.
Backed up with interviews with the Dalai Lama’s family and some of the many Westerners he’s inspired since his exile from Tibet in 1959, and with a beautiful original music score by Philip Glass and Brisbane Tibetan composer and musician, Tenzin Choegyal, this film took out the audience award at the Maui International Film Festival and the Mill Valley Film Festival.
Saturday 19th August
82 min
15+
Film Festival
