Why Not Watch?
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Exploring our world from the mundane to the miraculous, looking into the reaches of man’s spirituality and the human experience, SAMSARA is neither a traditional documentary nor a travelogue, instead taking the form of a nonverbal, guided meditation.
Director: Ron Fricke
Share this film, give others the chance to experience this visual meditation.
Watch BARAKA, the prequel to SAMSARA produced by Fricke and Magidson, released in 1992.
Become involved in Earth Day activities in your local community. Earth Day is a time to extend support for environmental protection and is held around the globe on April 22 each year. Visit the Earth Day Network’s webiste!
Follow Heartland Film, a nonprofit arts organization with the mission to ”inspire filmmakers and audiences through the transformative power of film,” which granted SAMSARA a Truly Moving Picture Award.
Check out the Food Empowerment Project. They offer practical information on how to support ethical food production
How two filmmakers turned sulfur mines, slaughterhouses, and trash heaps into breathtaking cinema.
Joe Fassler talks to the filmmakers Mark Madigson and Ron Fricke about the challenges of filming in five of their most difficult locations.
Read the full interview on The Atlantic.
“We collaborate with many coalition groups who oppose the legislation, which typically criminalize the individuals who expose wrongdoing rather than the perpetrators of it! Wyoming’s bill — which was introduced mere weeks after undercover video footage revealed inhumane handling of pigs at a Tyson Foods supplier in the state — threatens agriculture whistleblowers with jail time and a fine if they use a recording device on the facility’s premises.”
Read the article on The Huffington Post.
Read the BBC article.
HE WHO DEVOTES HIMSELF
Films that see religion humanized by sacrifice and devotion.
“If you’re someone who cares about the environment, your first and foremost concern is probably climate change. After that, you might worry about such things as radioactive contamination, collapsing honeybee colonies and endangered ecosystems.
But a number of researchers are focused on a problem that has faded out of the news cycle: the piles of garbage that are growing around the world.”
Read the Washington Post article.
Listen to the creators of SAMSARA talk about their experiences from making the film here.
“Before addressing the importance of spirituality in modern times, we should first define it.”
Find out more here.
Read Keene McDonald Haywood’s thesis here.
“Meditation is fast becoming a fashionable tool for improving your mind. With mounting scientific evidence that the practice can enhance creativity, memory and scores on standardized intelligence tests, interest in its practical benefits is growing… This is all well and good, but if you stop to think about it, there’s a bit of a disconnect between the (perfectly commendable) pursuit of these benefits and the purpose for which meditation was originally intended. ”
Read more about this here.
"Planetary Poetry, Woven Into a Movie"
The New York Times
"...Unlike anything you might imagine."
Boston Herald
"A profound spiritual experience"
Spirituality And Practice
