Sat, May 08, 2004 page16

• Art follows religion in `Life as Cinema'

  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Life as Cinema by Anika Tokarchuk is a 56-minute documentary about the making of The Cup (1999) (高山上的足球盃), the debut feature film of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche (aka Khyentse Norbu).

  Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, a spiritual director of several Buddhist colleges in India, Bhutan and Sikkim, is recognized in his culture as the third incarnation of the Khyentse lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Life as Cinema voices his Buddhist reflections on the impermanence of life.

  

  Anika at rest in what she calls her ``opium den.''

  PHOTO: BEN ZULLO

  The film begins with Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche making a shadow butterfly on the wall with his hands. While the butterfly's magnified shadow flaps its dark wings on a white wall, he asks, "How do you know this is a butterfly?"

  The shadow on the wall is like reality projected on the screen of our mind. The layers of illusion and reality are interwoven into each other. While the theme of illusion is dominant in the film, the encounter between modernity and tradition in everyday Tibetan culture is also telescoped into Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche's character.

  Educated in London and given his first movie-related job by Bernardo Bertolucci in Little Buddha, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoch rides the tide of westernization and redefines his role as a Rinpoche.

  When Tokarchuk informs the Dalai Lama that Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche is making a feature film based on the real events of the monks at Dzongsar Institute, he breaks into laughter commenting, "Oh, I see, lamas are actors now."

  As she reveals in her documentary, the actors in The Cup are all from a real monastery and cast by their ecclesiastical superior. (Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche coaxed 14-year-old Jamyang Lodro into playing the role of Orgyen in The Cup with a promise of taking him to Disneyland.)

  Jovial and with a sense of absurdity, Life as Cinema rings quiet notes of political urgency. Unlike other dramas on Tibet such as Kundun (1997) and Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Tokarchuk does not portray Tibet as mired in Chinese suppression. Instead, Life as Cinema tracks the footsteps of Tibetan Buddhists to India, France, England, Canada, Hong Kong, and of course Taiwan.

  It is, after all, a documentary on Tibet-on-the-move, a film on the nature of change and openness.

  The second part of the trilogy will go into the background of Dzongsar monastery in Tibet and focus on Karpu Lama, a Tibetan who now lives in Taiwan.

  In a partial preview, Karpu's exile from Tibet is captured in a soliloquy that drifts across beautifully crafted images of Tibetan valleys and Taipei's streets. "Life is dreamlike," says Tokarchuk, "but it is also telling a history."

  For your information :

  There will be a free public screening of Life as Cinema at the Wisteria Tea House (紫藤廬) on Sunday May 16 at 7:30pm. Wisteria Tea House is located at 1, Lane 16, Sec 3, Xinsheng S Rd, Taipei. (北市新生南路3段16巷1號, 靠和平東路口).
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Chinese ships expelled from near Pratas Island

  • 2

    Taiwan to lose 6.67m workers in two retirement waves

  • 3

    ‘Fujian’ carrier to pose steep defense challenge

  • 4

    Cash handouts could start next month

  • 5

    NDC unveils rules to attract skilled foreign workers