Join Me In Shambhala

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 11:12:00 GMT

Join Me In Shambhala
Buy Now: $295.00

Once brutally persecuted under the Soviet regime, Buddhism is back in Buryatia in Southern Siberia. But with a past where lamas were killed in prisons and temples burned to ashes, there are few masters left to pass on the tradition. Whether or not the faith survives depends on an incarnate Tibetan lama, scholar and meditational master who travels around remote villages to reawaken Buddhism. The film discovers an oasis of spiritual tolerance in a unique enclave of Siberia where East meets West and draws unexpected parallels between the two.

From the 13th to the 17th century, the mountainous area east of Lake Baikal in Siberia, now known as the Buryat Autonomous Republic, was part of the Mongolian empire. The Buryats were originally nomadic herders practicing shamanism until they were converted to Buddhism by Tibetan lamas in the 17th century. Buddhism remained intricately woven into the Buryat universe for a few centuries, until Stalin initiated his deadly campaign against religion.

A generation grew up and aged without knowing much of their spiritual heritage, when the breakup of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s suddenly spurred a tremendous Buddhist revival. Monasteries were being built from scratch, and people were coming in droves, craving to believe, craving to learn. But who will teach them, when the greatest lamas, philosophers and scholars died in the labor camps? The first young Buryats who were sponsored to study in India will return only in 14 years - the amount of time it takes to get a degree of geshe in the Tibetan Gelugpa tradition, which enables one to become a lama. The help once again came from Tibet. In 1993, Tibetans Yeshe Lodoi Rinpoche and his disciple Tenzin gave up their exile home in tropical India for the frozen steppes of Siberia to re-introduce the Buryats to their ancient beliefs.

From Ulan-Ude to the most remote villages of Buryatia, Anya Bernstein, an anthropologist and filmmaker, follows these two remarkable masters on their quest. Narrated by Rinpoche, this stylistically complex documentary is both a study of Buddhism in Buryatia (with its clearly shamanistic rituals) and a map of Buddhist cosmology, weaving together textures and rhythms of everyday life with mediations on emptiness and space.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Prize for Outstanding Scientific Documentation, XVI Pärnu Int'l Doc & Anthropology Film Festival, Estonia, 2002

2nd Annual Buddhist Film Festival, Arlee, MT, 2007

Moma Film Foundation, Warsaw, Poland, 2006

Northeastern Anthropological Association Ethnographic Film & Video Festival, Lake Placid, NY, 2005

International Buddhist Film Festival, California, 2005

Asia Film Festival, Finland, 2004

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Yuri Vella's World

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:27:00 GMT

Yuri Vella's World
Buy Now: $320.00

The documentary follows Yuri Vella, writer and social activist of the Forest Nenets living in West-Siberia. He left his home village ten years ago to lead the life of a reindeer herder in the taiga. The little unique world he created there was meant to offer protection from the alcoholism and unemployment that sadly poses a serious threat to the indigenous peoples of Siberia. To give his grandchildren proper education in their natural environment and teach them reindeer herding skills, he establishes an elementary school in his winter camp. Unfortunately, Yuri Vella's world is but an oasis of traditional lifestyle in one of the largest oil-producing regions of Russia.

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Documentary Educational Resources - Geography / Arctic / Siberia / All Films

Join Me In Shambhala

Yuri Vella's World