SAMSARA (Ron Fricke, 2011)
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
Opens Friday, August 24
212-330-8182
www.landmarktheatres.com
www.barakasamsara.com
The filmmaking team of director Ron Fricke and producer Mark Magidson have teamed up once again to make the visually stunning documentary Samsara. The follow-up to 1985’s Chronos and 1992’s Baraka, the new work was shot in 70mm across twenty-five countries on five continents over the course of five years, immersing the audience in a barrage of striking imagery, set to a dramatic score by co-composer Michael Stearns. “Samsara was conceived as a nonverbal guided meditation on the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth,” Fricke explains, while Magidson adds, “The hope is that a viewer comes away feeling a sense of connection, a connection to the phenomenon of life around the world at this time.” Samsara, which can be translated as “the ever-turning wheel of life,” is also a personal journey to be experienced individually as it explores such spiritual concepts as flow and impermanence, without voice-overs or intertitles to explain what is happening on-screen.
SAMSARA takes viewers around the world in 70mm
TICKET GIVEAWAY: Samsara opens August 24 at Landmark Sunshine Cinema, and twi-ny is teaming up with the Interdependence Project to give away ten pairs of tickets to see this remarkable film during its opening weekend, at 4:50 and 7:15 on Saturday and Sunday.
Founded by Ethan Nichtern, the IDP is for people interested in exploring their minds on the meditation cushion and applying the insights, clarity, and wisdom developed by meditation to life, especially to the arts, ecology, activism, and community service. The IDP offers various weekly and monthly Buddhism and meditation classes in the East Village as well as workshops and retreats. Classes and workshops are offered by a variety of teachers from the Insight, Shambhala, Tibetan, and Zen traditions.
Just send your name, daytime phone number, all-time favorite nonverbal movie, and preferred showtime to contest@twi-ny.com by Tuesday, August 21, at 5:00 to be eligible. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; ten winners will be selected at random.