The International Buddhist Film Festival Official Selection screening of The Dalai Lama’s Gift had a full house at the Smith Rafael Film Center on Sunday, June 21. Director Ed Bastian attended, and noted Professor Roger Jackson, a participant in the film, joined via live Zoom for a lively and informative conversation and Q&A moderated by BFF Executive Director Gaetano Kazuo Maida.
The film documents the first Kalachakra initiation held outside of Asia, a 1981 event that took place in rural Wisconsin. Digitized from the never before seen original brilliant 16mm footage, and augmented with recent interviews with several of the participants, now leading Buddhist scholars Jan Willis, Jeffrey Hopkins, and Jose Cabézon, the film is an intimate and historic story that gracefully describes the Kalachakra teachings even as it details the unprecedented efforts to offer them in the U.S.
Ed Bastian has committed to making the film widely available and is now offering it at no charge at these online hosts:
