Eileen Fisher, the great American clothes designer, let us screen CRAZY WISDOM at her extraordinary offices in Irvington, New York on Friday night. (Nov. 18)  One of Chogyam Trungpa’s most immediate and pertinent teachings was the importance of environment, and how the look and feel, the authenticity, functional beauty, the simple space affects how we manifest in the world.  It affects our creativity, our attention span, our confidence. It’s about how positive, open space produces positive open energy.  Fisher’s building, a sustainable, light-infused, loft-like space (I especially appreciated The Lactation room!!) was a beautiful setting for CRAZY WISDOM.  It hosted a full house and a good time was had by all ( I can usually tell by the laughter and the tears). Thank you Eileen, for coming to see and host CRAZY WISDOM.

 

And now, I’m in Boston, getting ready for a screening at the famous Coolidge Corner Theatre, Monday night, Nov. 21. We’re hoping to pack the 400 seat theatre for our first screening in the Boston area.  Since I grew up in nearby Belmont, it feels like I’m bringing the film home. 

 

And the Phoenix (Boston’s cool, free weekly) has a nice welcome.   Check it out.

 

Crazy Wisdom in the Boston Phoenix.

Ok, its been a long time since we posted here.  We have great news!

Crazy Wisdom will premiere in NYC at the Rubin Museum of Art Nov. 25 - Dec. 3 - One Week Only!  Closing night is already sold out - buy your tickets online now to make sure you get to see the film - Director Johanna Demetrakas will be at Q&A's Friday-Monday screenings.  Plus lots of special guests, including Meredith Monk, Anne Waldman, Agness Au, & more.  The Rubin will hold free gallery tours before most screenings - schedule here.

 

Crazy Wisdom opens in LA Dec. 2 at the Laemmle Santa Monica 4-plex.   Buy tix online here.   Please try to come opening weekend - box office that weekend influences theater bookers around the country.  Johanna will do Q&A most nights...and we're lining up special guests to join Johanna in regaling audiences with first-hand stories of Trungpa Rinpoche.  Both runs are One Week Only - hope to see you there.

Drove up to Santa Barbara on Thursday to be there for our 8:10 AM screening at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Friday, Feb 4th. Trying to imagine who would get up and get out to see a film at that ungodly hour? Would they have breakfast first? A cup of coffee I hoped. Would there be at least 20 people there (including one old friend who promised to show)? Imagine my relief, while I watched close to 200 people take their seats, all wide-eyed and ready for a movie.

 

They paid intense attention, and they laughed a lot, which means they got it.

 

Afterwards many folks stayed for Q & A, which was thoughtful and provocative on their part. It was very satisfying to hear that people were moved by Trungpa as a person, emotionally connected in some way. Also people seemed to understand the importance of meditation practice. I think as stressed-out Americans hear more and more about the scientific research on the benefits of meditation, they're beginning to listen very carefully. And it doesn't hurt when a complex character like Trungpa who embodies lifetimes of practice, brings it all to life undiluted and full-blown.

 

Here are some quotes from a recent article on meditation and the brain:

 

"M.R.I. brain scans taken before and after the participants' meditation regimen found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress. A control group that did not practice meditation showed no such changes.

 

It has been hard to pinpoint the benefits of meditation, but a 2009 study suggests that meditation may reduce blood pressure in patients with coronary heart disease. And a 2007 study found that meditators have longer attention spans."

 

More on the Festival tomorrow.

 

JD

For premiere ticketing info, visit our Screenings page.

We're thrilled to report that Crazy Wisdom's WORLD PREMIERE will be at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival,

Feb. 5, 7:20pm,  Metro 4 theater

 

SPECIAL GUESTS TO BE ANNOUNCED!

 

You can buy tickets online here

Please buy your tickets in advance, we will sell out these screenings!

 

Additional Screenings:

Friday, Feb. 4, 8:00am, Metro 4

Sunday, Feb. 6, 1:20pm, Metro 4

It took a long time to put this film together. In 1983, Chogyam Trungpa asked me to make a Shambhala film. The teachings of Shambhala, the path, were still very new and I wasn't sure what that meant. What would a Shambhala film be about? certain principles? A way of life? And for several years after Chogyam Trungpa's death, nothing happened, and I didn't think about that conversation.

In maybe the early nineties I started tracing my own past, and took up the idea again. In '95 I got initial approval from Trungpa's son and Shambhala heir, Sakyong Mipham to make a film about his father. I started pulling footage from my archives; my ex-husband Baird Bryant and I had shot several films with Trungpa. And in '02 I began to record some of the interviews that appear in the film. Then things fell apart, as they often do in the long life of a documentary; it took two more years just to get full formal approval. Now, here we are in 2010 and the film is finally in final cut.

My goal has been to use the ideas, the questions, the moments in the film to create an open mindedness in the viewer about Trungpa, to film without bias and let him confront the world directly. And let the audience have their own journey. Making a documentary is like starting a painting with a blank canvas. Documentaries are wide open, and a filmmaker learns to sense when one is unfolding correctly. This film is a portrait, and I've tried not to impose my own ideas on it, or on the viewer.