New festivals are set for Hong Kong, London, and Bangkok as we launch the tenth anniversary season of the International Buddhist Film Festival. IBFF 2012 HONG KONG starts the season off at the new Asia Society Hong Kong Center, with a ten day event March 16–25 sponsored by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, the first-ever IBFF in Hong Kong.
“We’ve screened several hundred films from submissions, archival research and invitations. These include dramas, comedies, documentaries and animated works from over a dozen countries,” said Gaetano Kazuo Maida, IBFF Executive Director. “In each city we will be presenting compelling new selections of the best Buddhist cinema together with some wonderful guests—it’s world cinema with a Buddhist touch.”
A five day IBFF 2012 LONDON is set for April 11–15. Hosted by the Apollo Piccadilly Circus and presented by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, this will be the first time the peripatetic IBFF has been to the UK since 2009. The first-ever IBFF in Bangkok is sponsored by the nonprofit Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives (BIA) June 5–10 and will be hosted at a number of cinemas in Bangkok. Other cities will be announced as details are confirmed.
Previous IBFF events have been held in London, Amsterdam, Singapore, Mexico City and a number of cities in the U.S. including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. IBFF has presented nearly three hundred films from over twenty countries in its first ten years.
IBFF 2012 HONG KONG is one of several inaugural year events at the brand-new Asia Society Hong Kong Center, including a major art exhibition, Transforming Minds: Buddhism in Art, February 10-May 20, 2012, curated by Dr. Melissa Chiu with co-curators Dr. Adriana Proser and Dr. Miwako Tezuka. Encore screenings of all the films will be presented through May 12, with a special Vesak Day weekend presentation of David Grubin’s The Buddha, April 28/29 and May 3. Here’s the full schedule.
IBFF 2012 LONDON is being held in conjunction with the presentation of the first Buddhist Art Forum which takes place at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, April 10-14. The Forum addresses the philosophical issues concerning Buddhism and art, and it is also sponsored by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.
IBFF 2012 BANGKOK is one element of the BIA’s extensive Buddhaleela Bangkok series of events in celebration of the 2600th anniversary of the Buddha’s awakening, a national holiday in Thailand. Film, music, youth programs, dharma talks and a variety of community outreach projects are being presented in Bangkok and other locations throughout Thailand.
