Inner Path Film Festival begins in Delhi to spread the Spirit of Buddhism

The Inner Path Film Festival kicked off in the capital to celebrate the essence of Buddhism at ICCR Azad Bhawan Friday with lot of enthusiasm and spirit. The festival was inaugurated by honorable Minister of External Affairs, Shri. Salman Khurshid, who praised the efforts of Aruna Vasudev and NETPAC for their excellent work in spreading awareness about Buddhism and throwing light on those parts of the religion hidden from mainstream consciousness.

“It’s a compact and close net gathering here, what matters is the quality of people who have deep interest in Buddhism. Buddhism has given spirituality to this world and we are the birth place of this remarkable way of life, we should consider ourselves blessed for giving this world this wonderful way of life.” He also added, “I have seen life of Buddhists across the globe in countries like China, Vietnam, Japan, Central Asia and all the civilisations have the presence of Buddhism. We are lucky that we have this civilization dimensions,” said Mr. Khurshid.

“The pictures and photographs in the exhibition will revive the essence of Living Buddha and ethos of our culture. I am privileged to experience the beauty through these pictures and the ‘silence’ that communicates,” he said while commenting on the Photography Exhibition, which is also a part of the Festival.

“The texture of the gathering is the best part here, you don’t aspire for larger numbers but great quality, however I feel we can do a lot more to promote this culture,” he added.

Aruna Vasudev, Director and Founder of Inner Path, felt extremely honoured and happy with the overwhelming response from the people over the years and thanked Salman Khurshid for gracing the occasion with his presence.

“I have spent more and more years learning about Buddhism and I firmly believe that Buddhism can help overcome pain, sadness and gloom,” said Aruna.

The American Band, Dharma Bums mesmerized the audience with their spiritual performance with Buddhism themed songs that left them in awe. The exhibition area was also unveiled for public viewing which showcased photographs and artworks by renowned photographers and artists.

Inspired by his philosophy of Gautam Buddha, unquestionably the world’s most lofty spiritual teacher that one has to find peace within oneself and not outside, the country’s only international festival expounding thoughts of this great sage is being marked in ‘The Inner Path’ on the basic theme of “Relevance of Buddhism today”, in the context of the prevailing social, cultural and economic conditions in the world.

The Inner Path Festival, the second in the country of his birth, is the first that brings together speakers and creative practitioners on Buddhism from around the world together with films and visual and performing arts.

It is organized by the Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC), and will be held from 6 to 10 September in the capital’s Azad Bhavan (Indian Council of Cultural Relations). The Inner Path festival is being held in association with the Asoka Mission. NETPAC has helped organise festivals of films based on Buddhist themes twice since 1995.

The Festival will present Buddhist philosophy and aesthetics through various creative forms – a concert from the western band, around 20 short and full length films, an exhibition of photographs of Buddhist sites, and selected art works, discourses and a panel discussion with the photographers and artist.

Now an annual feature, the Inner Path has been promoted by renowned film critic Aruna Vasudev, the pioneering president of the Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema.

The Festival will be inaugurated by the External affairs Minister, Mr Salman Kurshid. The opening at Azad Bhavan will see a concert from the ‘Dharma Bums’ an American band founded by Buddhist scholarPhil Void in the early 1970s while doing research in India and Nepal. The group will perform chants and spiritual renditions.

The exhibitions include a select range of photographs of Buddhist sites from the world as captured by three eminent international photographs – Nicholas Vreeland, Jaime Leon, Christel Pilz, and one Indian – Shefali Mujal.

Twenty-one features, documentaries, and shorts of which many have received huge critical acclaim will be screened. These include some classics like Spring Summer Fall Winter…and Spring by the eminent Kim Ki-Duk which is a South Korea/Germany production of 2003, Milarepa, by the legendary Liliana Cavani, Italy, 1974;

The Yellow Robe by the eminent Lester James Peries of Sri Lanka in, 1967; and Samsara by Pan Nalin,The Giant Buddhas on Bamiyan by Chritian Frei, Switzerland, 2005; Karma, Tsering Rhitar Sherpa, Nepal, 2006, Cave in the Snow, Liz Thompson, Australia, 2002; as well as new works like Vows andAlms both made in 2013 in China, by Edward Burger who was at the Festival last year.

Others include Three Marks of Existence by Thailand’s Gunparwitt Phuwadolwisid, 2012, Yangsi by Mark Elliot, 2012, KanZeOn by Kim Grabham & Neil Cantwell, 2011. It will close with Goutam Ghose’s celebrated documentary Impermanence about His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Renowned directors and film personalities from these countries will be present.

But the Festival goes beyond exhibitions, concerts and film shows. There will be daily Discourses by eminent Buddhist teachers and scholars to be followed by discussions, from 7 to 10 September. The invited speakers are His Eminence the 12th Kenting Tai Situpa, India; Prof. Askar Chingizovich Akmatov from Kyrgyzstan; Venerable Ajarn Suluk Sivaraksa from Thailand; and Dr. Rabindra Panth, the Director of the Nav Nalanda University, Bihar.

According to Ms Vasudev, the Festival attempts to take a new resurgence in Buddhist thought to a wide range of urban audiences at a time when violence and strife disrupt the fundamentals of our national secular culture.

NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) is an international organisation with its Secretariat in Sri Lanka and Aruna Vasudev is its Founder-President. NETPAC-India has been actively promoting Asian cinema in India over many years. Aruna also founded the world’s first Asian film journal ‘Cinemaya’ and the Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema.