VANCOUVER PREMIERE // VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE  

Winner of audience awards in Berlin, Palm Springs and Los Angeles, Blindsight captured the gripping adventure of six Tibetan teenagers who set out to climb the 23,000 foot Lhakpa Ri on the north side of Mount Everest. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Himalayas, a dangerous journey soon becomes a seemingly impossible challenge—made all the more remarkable by the fact that the teenagers are blind.

Believed by many Tibetans to be possessed by demons, the children are shunned by their parents and rejected by society. Rescued by Sabriye Tenberken—a blind educator/ adventurer who established Lhasa's first school for the blind—the students invite mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer to visit their school after learning about his conquest of Everest. Erik inspires Sabriye and her students to let him lead them higher than they have ever been before, and the resulting three-week journey is beyond anything any of them could have predicted.

The idea for the film came from Erik Weihenmayer (a blind mountaineer). Erik was put in contact with movie producer Steven Haft who thought this story would likely resonate with film producer Sybil Robson-Orr because of her interest in Tibet and mountain climbing. (She met her husband Matthew climbing Kilimanjaro, the same mountain on which Erik got married.) It only took one meeting with Erik before she decided to make the film.

“Erik told me climbing mountains gave him confidence as a blind teenager and he wanted to share that experience with these blind Tibetan kids. He asked me if I thought taking 6 blind Tibetan teenagers up a 23,000 foot mountain in the Himalayas sounded like a movie. I told him it did and decided to make it,” says producer Robson-Orr. Sybil and Steven Haft had liked Lucy Walker’s Devil’s Playground, the critically acclaimed documentary feature about Amish teenagers, and asked her if she’d be interested in directing this project. Lucy connected with the material personally, and thus the filmmaking unit was complete.

"Brilliant...ravishingly photographed"— Time Out London.

“ASTONISHING... THE POWER TO MAKE YOU RE-EXAMINE YOUR ENTIRE LIFE”— New York Times

VANCOUVER PREMIERE // VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE

SPECIAL GUESTS:
Prof. Tsering Shakya will attend the Friday & Sunday 7:00pm screenings.
Prof. Jeffrey Hopkins will attend the Wednesday 7:00pm screening

The Unwinking Gaze offers a unique, behind-the-scenes insight into the recent working life of the Dalai Lama. Filmed over a period of three years with exceptional access, it shows the daily agonies of the Tibetan leader as he tries to strike a balance between his Buddhist vows and the realpolitik needed to placate China. David and Goliath is played out in front of us as the world's emerging superpower and the Dalai Lama walk a tightrope over an issue of global importance. The Unwinking Gaze is not three years in the life of the Dalai; it is his life's work in three years.

Notes from Director Joshua Dugdale: I had seen a number of films on the Dalai Lama, but I felt they didn’t show who he really was. It seemed that he was being wheeled out for the cameras, for stage managed set pieces. Knowing that the rhetoric from Beijing claimed that the Dalai Lama was a canny political operator, intent on conning the West into backing his efforts to split off Tibet and weaken China, I wondered whether there was a way of showing his actions and reactions on camera. I hoped to be able to reveal his true intentions and character and I wanted to create a film, which would show the real world of the ‘splittist’ Dalai Lama so that those in power in Beijing might be able to make more informed decisions about how they deal with him. With such an enigmatic figure, the only way to achieve this was to treat him like any other politician, showing the world he inhabits and the challenges he faces. The result is extraordinarily rare access into the world of one of the great spiritual leaders of our time.

SPECIAL GUESTS:
Prof. Tsering Shakya will attend the Friday, July 18 & Sunday, July 20 7:00pm screenings
Tsering Shakya is a holder of Canadian Research Chair in Religion and Contemporary Society in Asia, at the Institute of Asian Research at UBC. He is the author of The Dragon in the Land of Snows, A History of Tibet Since 1947.

Prof. Jeffrey Hopkins will attend the Wednesday 7:00pm screening
Jeffrey Hopkins is Professor Emeritus of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia where he taught Tibetan Buddhist Studies and Tibetan language for thirty-two years from 1973. He served as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s chief interpreter into English on lecture tours for ten years, 1979-1989. He has published thirty-nine books in a total of twenty-two languages. He has translated and edited thirteen books by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the latest being How to See Yourself as You Really Are.

"...a startlingly intimate portrait of the man himself, a constantly giggling, extremely canny politician with little patience for his reputation back home as a supernatural healer." — Channel 4 (UK)

How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the fundamental questions posed to the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray, who filmed His Holiness during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India. Part biography, part philosophy, part adventure and part politics, 10 Questions for The Dalai Lama conveys more than history and more than answers-it opens a window into the heart of an inspiring man.

SPECIAL GUESTS:
Prof. Jeffrey Hopkins will attend the Wednesday 7:00pm screening
Jeffrey Hopkins is Professor Emeritus of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia where he taught Tibetan Buddhist Studies and Tibetan language for thirty-two years from 1973. He served as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s chief interpreter into English on lecture tours for ten years, 1979-1989. He has published thirty-nine books in a total of twenty-two languages. He has translated and edited thirteen books by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the latest being How to See Yourself as You Really Are.

"...a warm and well-rounded portrait of his subject, his Buddhist philosophies and the painful circumstances of his exile to a modest monastery in Dharamsala, India." — New York Times

"Enlightening... provocative... highly engaging." — The Washington Post

MEDIA RESOURCES

Screeners available

BLINDSIGHT
Official Site: http://www.blindsightthemovie.com/index1.html
View Trailer: BLINDSIGHT
Download PDF press kit

THE UNWINKING GAZE
Official Site & View Trailer: http://www.unwinkinggaze.com/

10 QUESTIONS FOR THE DALAI LAMA
Official Site: http://www.thedalailamamovie.com/
View Trailer: 10 QUESTIONS
Read reviews in: New York Times

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Username: media
Password: download

Vancity Theatre Web Site: www.vifc.org

Call the FILM INFO LINE: 604.683.FILM (3456) for the latest info and listings. Tickets can be purchased in advance on-line at www.vifc.org or in person 30 minutes before showtime.

Adult tickets: $9.50 (Double Bill - $12)
Student/Senior $7.50 (Double Bill - $10)
Matinees $7.50

As a registered non-profit society, the VIFC screens films that have not always been seen by the BC Film Classification Board. Under BC law, any person wishing to see these unclassified films must belong to the VIFC Society and be 18 years or older. Valid for one year based on the date of purchase, the VIFC basic membership cost is $2.50.

For More Membership Information go to http://www.vifc.org/membership.html.

Vancity Theatre is located at 1181 Seymour St. (at Davie)