See Film Differently.

Program 6 – May 20 Buddhism and Cowboy Ethics: The Code of the East Comes West

Click onthe image of Matt Pistono to buy tickets.

This is the most eclectic program in the festival featuring the acclaimed documentary “Crazy Wisdom” about the founder of Buddhism in the west. A film discussion follows with former Landerite Matteo Pistono and author of “In the Shadow of the Buddha”.

Part spiritual biography, part nail-biting undercover reporting, In the Shadow of the Buddha brings together Pistono’s quest to uncover long-hidden spiritual truths and real-time violations of religious freedom in Tibet.

Click on the image of Cougar Littlefield to purchase tickets

The program also includes an opening short subject entitled “The Day No One Died” (7 min Short Film). The film finished in the Shoot Out Cheyenne Top 10 and was directed by Cougar Littlefield (Wyoming/Colorado).

When the Grim Reaper decides to use his new smart phone instead of using the Book of Life for an appointment with a human, he soon finds himself broke and without a job.

Johanna Demetrakas’s “Crazy Wisdom” (86 min Documentary)  explores the life, teachings, and “crazy wisdom” of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, a pivotal figure in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West.

Chogyam Trungpa fled the invasion of Tibet and shattered Westerners’ notions of how an enlightened teacher should behave.

Crazy Wisdom is the long-awaited feature documentary to explore the life, teachings, and “crazy wisdom” of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, a pivotal figure in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. Called a genius, rascal, and social visionary; ‘one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the 20th century,’ and ‘the bad boy of Buddhism,’ Trungpa defied categorization.

Raised and trained in the rigorous Tibetan monastic tradition, Trungpa came to the West and shattered our preconceived notions about how an enlightened teacher should behave – he openly smoked, drank, and had intimate relations with students – yet his teachings are recognized as authentic, vast, and influential.

For 17 years in North America, Trungpa taught Buddhism as though it were a matter of life and death. He was committed to creating the foundation from which to build an enlightened society. Allen Ginsberg considered him his guru; Thomas Merton wanted to write a book with him; Joni Mitchell wrote a song about him.

Filmed in the UK, Tibet, Canada, & the US, twenty years after Trungpa’s death, with unprecedented access and exclusive archival material, Crazy Wisdom looks at the man and the myths about him, and attempts to set the record straight. “It wasn’t what he taught, it was how he taught,” says Pema Chodron, author, teacher, former student of Trungpa. So fasten your seatbelts and get ready to meet Chogyam Trungpa!