The opening night film on April 10 at 7:00 pm will be the west coast premiere of Even Though the Whole World Is Burning, a portrait of US Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin by Stefan Schaefer, filmed on location in Hawaii. Special guest Jane Hirshfield, the renowned poet, will introduce the screening. Closing night, April 16 at 7:00 pm, will feature the Bay area premiere of The Three Marks of Existence, a comedy filmed in India and Thailand from director Gunparwitt Phuwadolwisid who will be live via Skype for the Q&A.
IBFF 2015 BAY AREA runs April 10–16 at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, California, a co-presentation of Buddhist Film Foundation and California Film Institute. Over a dozen premieres from ten countries will be screened: documentaries featuring Peter Matthiessen, Alan Watts, Joan Halifax, Kaz Tanahashi, Jetsun Khandro, Gelek Rinpoche, Sharon Salzberg, Bill Porter and others, along with features from Bhutan, China, Thailand and the Netherlands. Several filmmakers and special guests will be attending.
Other confirmed special events include Why Not Now? With Alan Watts (featuring Mark Watts and his film about his noted father plus animated works by Matt Stone and Trey Parker of South Park fame) on Sunday, April 12th at 8:00 pm, and Myanmar: New Voices/New Visions, new works selected and presented by local filmmaker (and Buddhist Film Foundation board member) Ellen Bruno on Thursday, April 15th at 7:00 pm.
“This is our 15th year as well as the 10th anniversary of our first Smith Rafael Film Center event, so we’re very excited to be back in San Rafael,” says IBFF executive director Gaetano Kazuo Maida. He adds, “And IBFF 2015 is slated to travel to several countries around the Pacific Rim over the next year, offering us a wonderful opportunity to share these new works with new and very diverse audiences in a number of countries.”
Smith Rafael Film Center director of programming Richard Peterson says, “We’re always delighted to work with IBFF at the Rafael, where many of our regulars enjoy the unusual films, presentations and filmmakers the festival offers.”
The complete program and screening schedule will be available later this month when online ticket sales commence.
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