Thongdrol Liberation Through Seeing A visually stunning feature length theatrical documentary on the creation and practice of Tibetan art as it developed through the history of the Karmapas and the Karma Kagyu branch of Tibetan Buddhism. INTRODUCTION The Karmapas and their associated lineages are a transmission line of teachers and meditation masters that began in Tibet 900 years ago. The first Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa, 1110-1193, was also the first tulku, the very first Tibetan Buddhist teacher to consciously will rebirth. This distinct practice of taking rebirth has since spread to all sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The fame of successive Karmapas' teaching talents spread far and wide and they were invited to teach in the courts of emperors and khans. As they travelled the great distances to China, Mongolia, and the far kingdoms of Tibet, they often took years, stopping to teach along the way. In the process they accumulated hundreds and sometimes thousands of followers who eventually became tightly organized into a great mobile encampment...a travelling monastery that could reach isolated villages and groups of nomads. Some of the Karmapas, their disciples, and teachers were highly revered artists and as they and their students crossed the vast environments of central and eastern Asia they developed a unique way of combining traditional schools of Buddhist iconography with elements of Chinese landscape painting. This became known as the Karma Gadri or Encampment style. A thangka created in the Karma Gadri style had the general purpose of inspiring devotion in the viewer, planting the seeds for spiritual practice, both through its subject matter which was frequently great spiritual masters, and through its form which was based on elaborate …2 geometrical proportions underlying the figures, proportions that gave them a distinctive aesthetic. In Tibetan the inspiration through the sense of sight toward spiritual practice is called Thongdrol or Liberation through Seeing. The Karma Gadri style added something new to the thongdrol aspect of thangkas, the landscapes of the natural world. The environment was now part of the totality of the spiritual vision. The present 17th Karmapa's great concern with what human beings are doing to the planet may well have its historical roots in the the Karma Gadri style that his predecessors developed and supported. THE FILM This theatrical documentary will function as a thongdrol itself, a contemplation of the relationship between the visual and the spiritual through spectacular photography...of images and image making , of landscapes, of music and of rituals. Created with ultra high definition (4+k) technology it will use Visual Effects sequences to reconstruct episodes from the history of the lineage and the development of the Karma Gadri style. With CGI animation it will take the audience on a journey into the visual universe of the thangkas, exploring their symbols and illuminating their meaning. There will be other, parallel, story threads including the re-creation of a 35 meter appliqué thangka in Tibet by two Western artists. The original, at Tsurphu Monastery, the Karmapas historical seat, was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Now its recreation is unveiled on a hillside opposite the monastery to tens of thousands of onlookers every Spring on Buddha's birthday. Principal photography will be in India, Europe, America, and in China and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Interviews will be with various authorities, both Tibetan and Western, on Thongdrol, the Karmapas, and the Karma Gadri style. DISTRIBUTION The film will be for theatrical distribution in art-house cinemas in the West, and mainstream distribution in Asia in many languages. It will live D eathless Films Ltd. 1 Woodland Heights Toronto, Ont. M6S 2W3 416.766.9244 Fax 416.766.8474 [email protected] …3 a later life on television networks in the West such as HBO, PBS, Arte, and the BBC and on home video. PERSONNEL • David Cherniack, the writer, director and executive producer, is a distinguished Canadian filmmaker with a long filmography of more than 50 documentaries on spiritual subjects for broadcasters, including six documentaries which feature His Holiness the Dalai Lama. • Scott Ross, CGI/Visual Effects producer, is a three-times Oscar Award winner, (TITANIC, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME and THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON). Scott ran Industrial Light and Magic for George Lucas in the 1980's and in the 90's he started Digital Domain with James Cameron. • Terris Temple, executive producer has been a thangka painter in the Karma Gadri tradition since the 1970s. He was a long-time student of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, and the 17th Karmapa has known him and his wife, painter Leslie Nguyen Temple, since he was a child at Tsurphu Monastery in Tibet, where they reconstructed the 40 meter Karma Gadri gö-ku between 1992 and 1997. In 2006-2007 they reconstructed the Norbu Drabche and are presently working on drawings for the Tsechur Drabche. • Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa, is an advisor on the lineage history and ritual details. D eathless Films Ltd. 1 Woodland Heights Toronto, Ont. M6S 2W3 416.766.9244 Fax 416.766.8474 [email protected] .