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THIS Buddhist Film Festival 2023 will be physical screenings only. All 19 films will be screened at Shaw Theatres Lido (Singapore).
Single Cinema Ticket: $15
Prices exclude SISTIC booking fees
LITTLE BUDDHA
Sat 23 Sep | 1pm
Thu 28 Sep | 6.50pm
France, Liechtenstein and United Kingdom | 1993 | 135 min | PG
LITTLE BUDDHA is a captivating film by renowned director Bernardo Bertolucci that tells the parallel stories of Jesse, a young boy in modern-day Seattle, and Siddhartha, the prince destined to become the Buddha in ancient India.
TUKDAM: BETWEEN WORLDS
Sat 23 Sep | 4.10pm
Finland | 2022 | 91 min | NC16: Some Disturbing Scenes
TUKDAM: BETWEEN WORLDS follows the first ever scientific research into tukdam by neuroscientist Richard Davidson’s team, juxtaposed with intimate death stories of tukdam meditators and Tibetan understandings of the death process – which include ideas about consciousness and the mind-body connection that are very different to those of mainstream science.
KARMALINK
Sat 23 Sep | 6.50pm
Cambodia, USA | 2021 | 101 min | PG: Some Coarse Language
In the near-future Phnom Penh, the rich and privileged are augmented with nanotech, and new skyscrapers crowd the skyline. In Tralop Bek, a tight-knit community threatened with forced eviction, 13 year-old Leng Heng is having vivid dreams of his past lives. He and his friends are convinced they are meant to find a buried Buddhist statue to save their homes, and they seek out help from a street-smart girl in the neighbourhood, Srey Leak.
REINCARNATION MALL
Sat 23 Sep | 6.50pm
Germany | 2023 | 5 min | PG
It’s just a pity that Mr. Grump didn’t collect too many karma points during his life on Earth. Because when he suddenly finds himself in a shopping mall after his death, in which you can buy a new life with exactly these points, he is forced to rethink his entire attitude towards life.
BUDDHA IN AFRICA
Sun 24 Sep | 11am
Sweden, South Africa | 2019 | 90 min | NC16: Some Nudity
Enock Alu, a Malawian teenager growing up in a Chinese Buddhist orphanage, feels torn between his African roots and Chinese upbringing. Once the star performer with dreams of becoming a martial arts hero like Jet Li, Enock, in his final year of school, has to make some tough decisions about his future. Will he return to his relatives in his home village or study abroad in Taiwan?
벗어날 탈 脫 / NOT ONE AND NOT TWO
Sun 24 Sep | 1.30pm
South Korea | 2021 | 72 min | NC16: Some Nudity
Young-mok has an unknown disease. His girlfriend Seon-hwa asserted that he would get better after taking medicine, but he intuitively felt death approaching. He cut off all of his relationships and persisted in Zen practice in a new house to achieve Enlightenment.
MISSION: JOY
FINDING HAPPINESS IN TROUBLED TIMES
Sun 24 Sep | 4.10pm
USA | 2021 | 88 min | NC16: Some Mature Content
Deeply moving and laugh-out-loud funny, MISSION: JOY FINDING HAPPINESS IN TROUBLED TIMES is a documentary with unprecedented access to the unlikely friendship of two international icons who transcend religion: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu.
SAMSARA
Sun 24 Sep | 6.50pm
Spain | 2023 | 114 min | PG
SAMSARA is a story split in two: two continents, two communities, two belief systems, two sets of experiences and inner lives. Between them lies a sensory pathway, all light and sound. The viewer is only asked to close their eyes and travel with it.
MAY I BE HAPPY
MINDFULNESS IN THE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND
Mon 25 Sep | 7pm
France | 2019 | 80 min | PG
MAY I BE HAPPY reveals the significance of mindfulness practice in transforming the lives of young people.
WAKING UP 2050
Tue 26 Sep | 6.50pm
Germany | 2021 | 45 min | PG13: Some Mature Content
WAKING UP 2050 is a documentary film completed during the Covid pandemic as the graduation project of Communications Design student Ray Choo at the University of Applied Sciences, Berlin (HTW).
GYÜTÖ
Tue 26 Sep | 6.50pm
Belgium | 2022 | 60 min | PG13: Some Mature Content
To hear the sound of the ocean in the Himalayas… This unlikely wish takes a film director and her three girls to GYÜTÖ, where a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, perched high, echoes day and night the sound of sacred tantric chants of meditation, «which sound like the waves of the ocean».
净食 ALMS
星期三 9月27日 Wed 27 Sep | 7pm
美国 USA | 2009 | 23 min | PG
ALMS《净食》是一个穿越中国南方偏远山区佛教禅宗寺院的电影之旅。社群主厨以解说的方式引导观众理解这个传统社群惯用的种植、分配和施食仪式。
ALMS is a cinematic tour through a remote mountain Chan/Zen Buddhist monastery in Southern China. Audiences are guided by the community’s Head Chef as he explains the traditional cultivation, distribution and ritual offering of food in this traditional Buddhist community.
戒 VOWS
星期三 9月27日 Wed 27 Sep | 7pm
美国 USA | 2013 | 37 min | PG
VOWS《戒》的场景位于河北省现代中国佛教寺院 – 柏林寺的一场200多位僧众受戒的三壇大戒法会，三藏阅读和讲座的大型仪式所带来的图像和声音。
VOWS is set during a massive Triple- course readings and lectures, platform Ordination for over 200 bringing images and sounds from monastics held at Bailin Chan modern China’s Buddhist Monastery in Hebei Province. Ven. communities into your classroom.
出家 LEAVING HOME
星期三 9月27日 Wed 27 Sep | 7pm
台湾 Taiwan | 2023 | 13 min | PG
1970年代，年轻的刘悟准备前往金门服兵役。在他家的眷村街道上，他剃掉头发，向有佛教信仰的父亲刘致福告别。刘致福嘱咐他无论遇到什么困难，只要念一声「阿弥陀佛」，就能消除灾难。刘悟离家参军了。不幸的是，一年后他却因水灾而离世，刘致福再也等不到儿子回家……
In the 1970s, the young Wu Liou would go to Kinmen to serve in the military. In front of his house, he bid farewell to his Buddhist father, Jhih-Fu Liou. With his father’s blessing, he “left home” to join the army. Unfortunately, he was killed by a marine from the enemy a year later. And Jhih-Fu Liou could never see him again…
VANISHING POINT
Fri 29 Sep | 6.50pm
Thailand, Netherlands | 2015 | 103 min | M18: Sexual Scenes
The film takes on the experience from a car accident of the director’s parents 32 years ago. It’s a story of two men who each are running away from a suffering of their own, at different times and places.
NEVER FORGET TIBET
Sat 30 Sep | 10.30am
UK | 2022 | 90 min | NC16: Some Mature Content
One of the most significant moments in 20th century history, His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama reveals the details of his incredible escape into exile for the first time on film in his own words with the Indian political officer who led him to safety.
回眸 REVIEW
星期六 9月30日 Sat 30 Sep | 1pm
台湾 Taiwan | 2021 | 89 min | 内容只宜十三岁及以上 PG13: Some Mature Content
《回眸》记录三位末期病人冠玮、瑶华、育姗在离开人世前，如何面对死亡的每一刻。
The film documents how three terminal patients, Guan Wei, Yao Hua, and Yu Shan, face every moment of death before they die.
山道 THE MOUNTAIN PATH
星期六 9月30日 Sat 30 Sep | 4pm
美国 USA | 2021 | 96 min | PG
一个潮气蓬勃的年轻人为了寻找一位佛教隐士大师而历险终国山区。沿途小径，他意外的遇见了一群专致的隐士；憔悴的苦行僧、坚毅的比丘尼、睿智的长老和他的弟子。尽管他们每一位都远离尘世，却教了他如何入世生活。
A spirited young man journeys into the mountains of China in search of a Buddhist hermit master. Along the trail he meets an unexpected cast of dedicated recluses; the gaunt ascetic, the persevering nun, a wise old master and his disciples, all who, despite living far from the world, teach him all about how to live within it.
오늘 출가합니다 I LEAVE HOME
Sat 30 Sep | 7pm
South Korea | 2021 | 91 min | NC16: Some Mature Content
Sungmin decides to become a Buddhist monk. He asks his friend Jinwoo to take him to the temple where he will become a monk. On the long-awaited day of departure, Sungmin announces himself to everyone he meets.
