Sharchen Dzong Film Society
The Sharchen Dzong Film Society is dedicated to bringing great film to our community for free. We present films that examine themes such as devotion, intention, transformation, happiness, healing, suffering, connection, impermanence and the illusory nature of experience.
Consider movie night an opportunity to try one of the many nearby restaurants before joining us for the film. If there is a film you’d like us to show, send an email to film [at] sharchendzong [dot] org.
May Movie Night
Please join us for a screening of Herb & Dorothy (directed by Megumi Sasaki, 2008, 87min), the extraordinary story of a postal clerk and a librarian who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means.
In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to Minimalist and Conceptual Art, the Vogels quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. Devoting all of Herb’s salary to purchase art they liked, they collected guided by two rules: the piece had to be affordable, and it had to be small enough to fit in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Within these limitations, they proved themselves curatorial visionaries; most of those they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned artists, including Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, Robert Barry, Lucio Pozzi, and Lawrence Weiner.
Herb & Dorothy provides a unique chronicle of the world of contemporary art from two unlikely collectors, whose shared passion and discipline defies stereotypes and redefines what it means to be a patron of the arts.
Delightful… a kind of real-life fairy tale. –Boston Herald
Awards
Winner Audience Award Hamptons Film Festival; Winner Golden Starfish Hamptons Film Festival; Best of Fest Palm Springs Film Festival; Winner Audience Award Silverdocs Film Festival; Winner Audience Award Philadelphia Cinefest; Winner Best Documentary Provincetown Film Festival
Admission: Free
Date: Friday, May 3rd
Time: 7pm
Contact: Sean Scullion / film [at] sharchendzong [dot] org
Films We Show
Dharma Films
There are many films that explore contemplative themes from a variety wisdom traditions. Films such as these offer the general audience an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the many diverse forms of buddhism.
The film society regularly presents a selection of exceptional and hard-to-find dharma films.
Mainstream Films
Mainstream film can best be defined as commercial films that have a wide release and play in first run theaters. The boundary is vague. Mainstream suggests middle-of-the-road and implies commercial viability, sometimes implying that the commercial viability is tantamount to a loss of artistic creativity.
The film society presents a wide selection of mainstream films that provide though-provoking and inspiring stories.
Experimental Films
Experimental film is often characterized by the absence of linear narrative, the use of various abstracting techniques (out of focus, painting or scratching on film, rapid editing), the use of asynchronous sound or even the absence of any sound track.
The goal is often to place the viewer in a more active and thoughtful relationship to the film. The terms avant-garde and undergroundhave been used to describe films that today are commonly called experimental cinema.
The film society presents a selection of experimental films that provide our audience the opportunity to experience beginner’s mind.
Guest Speakers
Our community includes a diverse and extraordinary group of filmmakers making films that examine issues both personal and universal in a wide range of styles and genres, including: animation, experimental, drama, documentaries and others.
Contact: For more information, please send an email to:
film [at] sharchendzong [dot] org.
