Next year is Buddhist Film Foundation’s twentieth, and there are some exciting plans to celebrate this anniversary: an IBFF program, a series of special screenings, a book, and the launch of the new Buddhist Film Channel.
Buddhist Film Foundation (BFF) was founded in 2000 with a mission to present, preserve, produce, and promote motion pictures with Buddhist subjects, settings, or ideas. Since then, BFF has become the world’s leading resource for Buddhist-themed/inspired cinema. Its International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF) has been presented in ten cities in eight countries, screening over 300 films from 22 countries. Over two dozen films have been supported through BFF’s fiscal sponsorship program, with over US$2mm raised and several films going on to international awards and distribution success. BFF’s DVD distribution service, Festival Media, released 20 titles on DVD in North America, selling over 100,000 units, to the benefit of the filmmakers and BFF programs.
Today it’s all about digital streaming, and Buddhist Film Channel (BFC), BFF’s TVOD platform, is being readied for launch in 2019. BFC will be a virtual international archive of Buddhist cinema, and is designed to be self-sustaining through rental fees and memberships. BFC will draw upon the BFF database of over three thousand titles from around the world.
Coming in 2019, IBFF is organizing a series of screenings of films it has shown that were all released in 1999. The Class of ’99 program will include five classic films—all audience favorites—from India, Korea, France/Nepal, China, and Germany/Japan. In addition, special benefit screenings of the 4k restoration of Martin Scorsese’s historic 1997 film Kundun are being organized for New York; Washington, DC; Los Angeles; and San Francisco (so far). This is in conjunction with the release of a Blu-ray box set from distributor Kino Lorber that will include Festival Media titles Compassion In Exile and In Search of Kundun as bonus features.
And finally, BFF is packaging a very special illustrated book, Cinema Buddha, designed by Milton Glaser, with an introduction by Pico Iyer, and edited by BFF executive director Gaetano Kazuo Maida. There will be a special collector’s edition as well as trade cloth and paperback editions, with multiple language versions.
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And please consider supporting the work of BFF with a donation or sustaining commitment at whatever level you feel comfortable contributing. Our deep gratitude for your interest and support, thank you!
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Buddhist Film Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 22755
Oakland, CA 94609-5355
USA
