So how many slaps does it take to get the attention of your Ego? Apparently just one big one … done with compassion and love, of course. And if I was on the receiving end, there’s no one else I’d rather get it from than the Dalai Lama.

I sat down with the producer and director, Khashyar Darvich, and picked his brain about how this whole project started. In this podcast you will receive tidbits of information about the movie, Mr. Darvich and Harrison Ford, who narrated the film. The Dalai Lama Renaissance is a revealing documentary that was shot at His Holiness’s sanctuary in Dharamsala, India. The film takes you on a week-long journey filled with forward-thinking, expert-in-their-field Westerners who are busy assembling, meeting, arguing, and planning their strategies to solve the world’s problems with the end goal of presenting these ideas before the reincarnated Buddha of Compassion himself. Whew! Quite a tall order in such a short amount of time, don’t you think? Nonetheless, these people are up to the task — to fix the world’s problems. [silence and a smile]. Nonetheless, the synthesis that occurred within this group produced some amazing results that even they didn’t expect. The DVD is coming out in November ‘08; however, if you have the chance to see it during this limited release tour, I highly recommend doing so. After all, besides supporting those inspiring indie documentary filmmakers, you’re also keeping alive the wonderful hometown theaters that bring Arts and Culture to the big screen. By the way, the podcast “studio” was a coffee shop across the street from the Harkins Valley Art Theater in Tempe, Arizona so the real world was happening all around us in case you were wondering if a foley artist was present. Bonus points will be given to those who can correctly identify all of the background sounds. Hope you enjoy it. Namaste.

 

 Interview with producer/director Khashyar Darvich: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download