The 10-day Awareness Film Festival opened not with a bang but with the type of awareness befitting a longtime meditator or Zen master on Thursday, September 11. The two feature films screened that night at the beautiful Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus were David Lynch’s Meditation, Creativity, Peace and Moving From Emptiness: The Life and Art of a Zen Dude. The festival will continue through Sunday, September 21, with films showcasing a variety of themes various ranging from green and eco-friendly living, homelessness, mental illness, marijuana policy, health stories, sustainability of the worlds resources, and world hunger.
The filmmakers and subjects of the documentary Moving From Emptiness: The Life and Art of a Zen Dude were in attendance from Arizona for this LA premiere. The main character, Alok, is a unique, vibrant 75-year-old Chinese American artist who channels traditional Chinese arts and psychic energy into a type of physical calligraphy art. The surprise breakout from the film, though, is his new wife, Raylene Abbott, who creates serene art/dance/gardening performance art.
Legendary filmmakers David Lynch is becoming as well known for his interest in meditation as he is for his films. He is a vocal and enthusiastic proponent of Transcendental Mediation, and created the David Lynch Foundation in 2005 to teach underserved communities how to meditate. His film Meditation, Creativity, Peace follows him on an international tour promoting his concept for an enlightened, peace-promoting university. The large audiences, drawn in by his fame as the director of such films as Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead, were engaged by Lynch’s unique descriptions of consciousness and his belief in the need to transcend consciousness. The film was followed by a presentation from a representative of the David Lynch Foundation.
This Sunday night, September 14, at 6:30pm, the Awareness Film Festival will feature a special free presentation of the movie Pump, which is about to open in theaters in LA and NY. Pump is the latest fuel expose from noteworthy directors Joshua and Rebecca Tickell, telling from the story of America’s addiction to oil and explains clearly and simple how we can end it.
Karen Henry is an Associate Editor at LA YOGA who volunteers in a variety of capacities for nonprofit organizations and artists around Los Angeles. She practices yoga as a counterbalance to her daily impact sports and is a mother of four grown children who also practice yoga . Now, she’s working on teaching yoga and joy of life to the grandkids!