Two Films Still in US Theaters
Walk With Me, about Thich Nhat Hanh’s monks and nuns, and The Last Dalai Lama? an update of the 1991 Compassion In Exile, have been in US theaters for over two months, together grossing $500,000 in over 75 venues.
The films each took a different path to audiences. The Last Dalai Lama? had its theatrical premiere in July, after several sold-out presentations at International Buddhist Film Festival events in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, and is being distributed to US theaters via Matson Films. The film has run in over 20 cities to date, and has bookings through the end of the year. Director Mickey Lemle has attended a number of the opening weekends around the country, including a birthday tribute to the Dalai Lama, with Tibetan musician Tsering Dorjee Bawa performing along with a Tibetan children’s chorus before the screening.
Walk With Me had its theatrical premiere in August at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, California, and is reaching audiences through the innovative theater-on-demand platform Gathr, which allows people to attract a screening to their town by signing up online, and when a threshold of signers has been reached, a screening is booked. Some of these one-night events lead to regular week-long bookings at the theater. So far, the film has been shown in over 60 venues, with more scheduled in the coming months. The filmmakers, Marc Francis and Max Pugh, have attended several screenings, accompanied by monks and nuns from Thich Nhat Hanh’s organization, including a highly publicized group walking meditation from New York’s Union Square to a screening at the Rubin Museum of Art.
The Last Dalai Lama? trailer.
The Last Dalai Lama? official website.
