The world’s leading resource for Buddhist cinema, the US-based IBFF comes to the UK, and the Barbican, for the first time.

Part of The Many Faces of Buddhism series, the lineup of programmes here at IBFF 2009 LONDON includes forty-six films from eighteen countries, with twenty-seven UK premieres and three discussion events.

Themes of happiness, redemption, reconciliation, simplicity, forgiveness, generosity, community, creativity, humor and personal transformation are explored in many ways.

In honor of being in the UK, we’re particularly delighted to be presenting a British Film Institute archive print of the 1925 classic Prem Sanyas (The Light of Asia) on Opening Night, with a live performance of an original musical score. We are also happy to have the distinguished British historian Dan Cruickshank joining director Emma Hindley for a discussion about their BBC documentary The Lost World of Tibet. And there’s a special strand of films we call ‘Mind the Gap,’ and a contemporary version of Hamlet…

Founded in 2000, IBFF has presented festivals in Los Angeles, Washington DC, San Francisco, Singapore and Mexico City, with co-presentations in Amsterdam, Milan and Melbourne, and has become known for films that offer a sense of the great diversity of Buddhist cultures and experiences from around the world.

Visit www.ibff.org.

Gaetano Kazuo Maida
Executive Director
International Buddhist Film Festival