Asian Buddhist Film Festival 2007

[180507] The Cup (1999) directed by Khyentse Norbu (H.E. Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche), himself the subject of another film.

For reviews of this most hilarious comedy see here & here & for more on Bhutan see here, here & here.

[190507] The Simpsons: She of Little Faith (2001) & Buddha's Lost Children (2006)

Organisers were informed of the Media Development Authority's decision to rate this episode of The Simpsons as NC16 only at the very last moment (not at all surprising), & rushed to stick notices in the corridor & doors of the screening hall...but plenty of parents had already bought tickets for their families & turned up with babies in strollers & young kids in tow - how much sex, violence & gore would one expect in the offerings at a Buddhist film festival anyway, especially one that had a talk by the Venerable Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera on the closing day...so how?

In the end, kids (& their parents or minders) left the cinema hall & sat out the first 20 minutes of the evening's programme with ushers helping out with the babysitting, & joined us again during the interval in between the two films. The cat is totally clueless about TV in Singapore, does anyone out there know if this particular episode (season 13, episode 6?) was ever broadcasted on Channel 5? Or was it not, perhaps due to opposition from people of the religion whose place of worship was accidentally destroyed by Bart & Homer? =P

Buddha's Lost Children was a chance to revisit the familiar northwestern parts of Chiangrai province without having to take yet another combination of Air Asia/Tiger Airways planes, buses & songthaews past fields of hill rice planted on impossibly steep slopes & military/border police checkpoints =)

Not your usual cinema crowd on the two nights that the cat attended the Asian Buddhist Film Festival 2007... - in the audience were Mahayana monks & nuns in their brown & bluish grey robes, guys in Bhutanese gho (perfect for the wintry indoor climate in Singapore), Vajrayana monks & nuns in their gold & dark red robes, & most surprisingly, the odd Theravada monk in saffron - thought they aren't supposed to enjoy entertainment...though many many watch TV anyway ;)

No photos of the event, but a photo of The Colonnade, one of the few buildings in Singapore that really intrigue the cat, as seen from the windows of Shaw Lido cineplex:



This condominum project was designed by a former Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Paul Rudolph, who also designed The Concourse along Beach Road. Like Pearl Bank Apartments, this is one building that makes the cat wonder how everything was put together & interlocks.