IBFF 2015 BAY AREA completed a week-long run at the Smith Rafael Film Center, April 10–16, presenting fifteen premieres from ten countries to nearly 2,000 attendees. Filmmakers from China, Holland, Finland, and the US, along with a number of special guest presenters were there in person, and there were live Skype Q&As with filmmakers unable to attend.
The festival closed with the Bay Area premiere of a Thai dramedy The Three Marks of Existence, by Gunparwitt Phuwadolwisid, introduced by Wes “Scoop” Nisker. Don Starnes’ short film featuring Nisker, Mindfulness and the Triune Brain, preceded the feature.
“This was our fourth outing at the Smith Rafael Film Center since 2005,” said executive director Gaetano Maida. “The audiences were enthusiastic and a number even came to every single screening. It’s a perfect venue for the IBFF.”
Opening night was the West Coast premiere of director Stefan Schaefer’s portrait of poet W.S. Merwin, Even Though the Whole World Is Burning, introduced by award-winning poet and author Jane Hirshfield. Other highlights include Myanmar: New Voices/New Visions, a selection of recent works from the Yangon Film School presented by filmmaker Ellen Bruno, who led a post-screening discussion with Myanmar native Kenneth Wong; an evening with Mark Watts, who presented his film about his father Why Not Now? With Alan Watts, along with some animated works featuring Alan Watts’ voice; and the US premiere of a drama from Bhutan, Prophecy, by Zuri Rinpoche, introduced by Steven Goodman, a professor of Asian Studies at California Institute of Integral Studies. Zhou Chengyu’s in-person presentation of his Hermits, a journey with American author/translator Bill Porter among the hermit monks of China’s Zhongnan Mountains, was a standout program for many.
A strand of works touching on Buddhism in America included Dharma Rising, a survey of contemporary Buddhism by David Cherniack; Painting Peace, a portrait of artist/activist/translator/Zen teacher Kazuaki Tanahashi by Babeth VanLoo who also directed a Khandro: A Woman’s Path of Peace; American Rimpoche, a portrait of Gelek Rimpoche by Nikki Appino; and Giving Life to Life, by Patrick van Boekel, about Zen teacher/author/activist Joan Halifax.
“We were delighted to have a series of short works by Rebecca Dreyfus called On Meditation, profiles of known personalities who meditate including Peter Matthiessen, Sharon Salzberg, Giancarlo Esposito, Venerable Mettayya and others,” Mr. Maida said. “We sprinkled them throughout the festival and they were really well received.”
A number of developments have emerged from this IBFF including a special program of new films from Myanmar to be presented in collaboration with the Myanmar community and other organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the possibility of regular film presentations by BFF hosted by the Smith Rafael Film Center throughout the year.
Download a PDF of the program or review the full schedule online.
