One World Cinema

‘PAD YATRA: A GREEN ODYSSEY‘

ECOLOGICAL COMPASSION ONE STEP AT A TIME!

Featuring GYALWANG DRUKPA.

Shot with SOLAR POWER by Himalayan monk, NGAWANG SODPA

The film begins at Midnight on August 5, 2010, in Ladakh/’Little Tibet’ (a region of India inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir which lies between the Kunlun mountain range to the north and the Great Himalayas to the south). The area, which is usually peaceful and dry, is hard hit by a rare weather phenomenon known as cloudburst. Two inches of rain falls in the first sixty seconds. The cloudburst triggered catastrophic mudslides and flash floods. A disaster never before witnessed in the area.

GYALWANG DRUKPA, one of the main spiritual leaders in the Himalayas, goes to the area and the Druk White Lotus School to assess the damages and offer support.

The message is clear, these DISASTERS are NOT NATURAL, THEY ARE MAN MADE, they are saying that the Earth is seeking REVENGE, and that many of the problems in the world stem from selfish and egotistical behaviours.

Now an annual activist movement held around the world, the ‘Pad Yatra,” a spiritual and environmental pilgrimage or foot journey, initially began with 700 of GYALWANG DRUKPA’s students (Buddhist monks, nuns, other spiritual leaders, and a few Westerners), trekking through the back paths of the Himalayas (world’s tallest mountain range), traveling from remote village to village, with a call to save the Earth’s ‘3rd Pole,’ the largest field of glaciers outside of the ice caps, which are being impacted by global warming.

The group sets an example for the rest of the world by spreading their ecological message by picking up littered plastic bottles while trekking hundreds of miles through treacherous ravines and harsh weather conditions. Over 800 pounds of plastic were collected along the trek, hundreds of villages visited, and tens of thousands educated on environmental preservation. PLANT TREES, RESPECT LIFE!

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Rockslides threaten Hemis Monastery and it’s annual June/July Festival as a result of climate change.

http://plasticpollutioncoalition.org/

Article by Sharon Abella
One World Cinema
http://1worldcinema.com

Watch the trailer for the highly-anticipated new drama ‘The Broken Circle Breakdown,’ about a torrid romance between two bluegrass musicians.

“The Broken Circle Breakdown won two prizes (Best Screenplay for a Narrative Feature Film and Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film for Veerle Bartens) at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Co-written by Carol Joos and director Felix van Groeningen, this romantic melodrama follows the courtship of two artists as they fall in love and start a future together.

It’s love at first sight for quirky tattoo artist Elise (Bartens) and bluegrass musician Didier (Johan Heldenbergh). The two bond over their shared enthusiasm for American music and culture and dive headfirst into a sweeping romance that plays out on and off stage — but when an unexpected tragedy hits their new family, everything they know and love is tested.

An intensely moving portrait of a relationship, The Broken Circle Breakdown, propelled by a soundtrack of foot-stomping bluegrass, is one crowd-pleasing, tear-jerking, unforgettable experience.

The film’s soundtrack — scored by renowned composer Bjorn Eriksson — is currently #1 on the soundtrack charts in France and Belgium, and has become the best-selling soundtrack of all time in Belgium. Co-stars Baetens and Heldenbergh perform their own songs, and are part of the offscreen Broken Circle Breakdown Bluegrass Band, whose European tour is sold out through 2014!

The Broken Circle Breakdown opens at Landmark Sunshine in NYC on November 1, and will roll out to theaters around the country soon after.

The music from The Broken Circle Breakdown, already the top-selling soundtrack of all time in Belgium, is now available for purchase in the US on iTunes.” Tribeca Films

One World Cinema
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo6SOSlQRd8

Is it really possible that there haven’t been many films about slavery that actually depict slavery with such authenticism? Perhaps, “Roots.”

There was “Gone With the Wind,” “Glory,” “Django Unchained,” “Amistad,” “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and “Lincoln” too, yet, the latest film from director Steve McQueen (“Hunger” and “Shame”), is so powerful that everyone will agree that it should be shown in every high school across America.

Based on a book written in 1853, “12 Years A Slave” chronicles the true-to-life experiences by an African American male named Solomon Northup, a sophisticated, free man living in Saratoga Springs, New York State with his wife and two children. Tricked, kidnapped, and sold into slavery, he was shackled, beaten, whipped, and ordered to work the cotton fields on a plantation in Louisiana for 12 years. Solomon, demonstrated strength, tenacity, and bravery, while being forced to partake, observe and perform in inhumane acts that seem incomprehensible.

Article and videography by Sharon Abella
Editor of http://1worldcinema.com