Buddhist Film Festival October 8-10

The Buddhist film festival Europe will be held in Amsterdam’s Tuschinski theater this weekend.  The two-day event is a platform for feature films, documentaries and television programs that are inspired or influenced by Buddhism. The festival opens with a screening of Takahashi Banmei’s ‘Zen‘, a fascinating look into the life and times of 13th-century monk Dogen, founder of the Soto sect in Zen Buddhism. Other highlights include Rob Epstein’s acclaimed biopic of Allen Ginsberg ‘Howl‘ and John J. Healey’s documentary ‘The Practice of The Wild‘, which traces the career of Buddhist poet and environmentalist Gary Snyder.  Whether you are a devout monk, a film buff or merely an intrigued onlooker, the scheduled films are diverse and interesting enough to keep everyone happy and at peace. Feel the Zen.