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My Reincarnation

With special guests

My Reincarnation

Special guests are: March 8th, 7pm: Shambhala Center (Jules Levinson) & Dhyana Eagleton to Q&A. March 9th, 7pm: Anyen Rinpoche & Chris Latowski, Dzogchen Community member. March 9th, 9:15pm: Nanda Zipp, Dharma Ocean

When the Chinese occupied Tibet in 1959, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche had the sense to get out of the country while the going was good. The exiled monk moved to Italy where he married a local gal and had a couple of kids, including a son, Yeshi, who was recognized from birth as the reincarnation of a renowned Buddhist master.

And while Rinpoche was building a formidable following as a spiritual leader in the West, he simultaneously tried to groom the boy to follow in his footsteps. However, Yeshi saw himself more as a modern Italian than a traditional Tibetan, Thus, during the kid's formative years, he felt little connection to either the faraway homeland he'd never known or to the late guru whose spirit had supposedly taken over his body.

That didn't stop Rinpoche from pressuring Yeshi to embrace his destiny and thereby keep the family legacy alive. The often animated give-and-take between the two is the primary focus of My Reincarnation, a riveting biopic directed by Jennifer Fox. The award-winning filmmaker has a penchant for addressing her subject-matter in unusual depth, as was the case with her previous offering, Flying, an autobiographical documentary six hours in length.

What makes this picture fascinating is the fact that she shot it over the course of 20 years, which enables the audience to witness a tremendous degree of personal development on the part of the protagonists, especially Yeshi who goes from being a rebellious teen to an aspiring musician/photographer to a settled, suburban family man in front of our very eyes. Watching that evolution, who would ever guess that he might eventually come around to giving his dad's desire serious consideration?

An intriguing, "Marjoe"-esque adventure, if you remember that Oscar-winning expose' revolving around a penitent, Pentecostal child preacher who eventually 'fessed up about being a charlatan. This variation on the theme is designed to generate similar debate about Eastern philosophy, by highlighting how a corporate position at IBM might have belatedly led a reluctant, designated-demigod down a path of enlightenment lined by throngs of gullible devotees-in-waiting.

— Kam Williams, Newsblaze

My Reincarnation

Thu & Fri March 8 & 9, 2012, 7:00 & 9:15, Muenzinger Auditorium

USA, 100 min, Digital Projection, in English, Spanish, Italian, and Tibetan, 2011, 1.85:1, Color, Not Rated • official site

recommend

Tickets

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$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.

Parking

Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.

RTD Bus

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International Film Series

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Established 1941 by James Sandoe.

First Person Cinema

(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.

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(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil Grillo.

Celebrating Stan

Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.

C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.

Thank you, sponsors!
Boulder International Film Festival
Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

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