
Zen
β 7.1 Β· 2009 Β· 127m Β· Drama Β· History
In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen school of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of βMuβ (nothingness, or empty existence).
More Like This

Seven Years in Tibet
1997 Β· β 7.2
Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. But when World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Allied forces' hands as a prisoner of war. He escapes with a fellow detainee and makes his way to Lhasa, Tibet, where he meets the 14-year-old Dalai Lama, whose friendship ultimately transforms his outlook on life.
More info β
Dolls
2002 Β· β 7.5
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.
More info β
009-1: The End of the Beginning
2013 Β· β 5.9
In a universe where the Cold War never ended and growing conflicts result in the rapid advancement of technological warfare, the cyborg spy Mylene Hoffman of the 00 Organization battles the agents of the Eastern block in a game of high tech espionage.
More info β
Samsara
2002 Β· β 7.5
A love story situated in the Himalayas. A Buddhist monk can't choose between life and the way of the Buddha.
More info β
Swallowtail Butterfly
1996 Β· β 7.5
The struggles of a group of outcasts living in "Yentown", in an alternate-future Japan.
More info β
Love and Other Cults
2017 Β· β 6.8
Ai's mother sends her to live with a cult commune, where she remains for seven years. After the cult is broken up by the police, Ai struggles to fit in with society.
More info β
Tokyo Sonata
2008 Β· β 7.4
The winds of change blow as a family grapples with unemployment, alienation, mistrust and a lack of communication. When a Japanese salaryman loses his job to outsourcing to China, it's simply the beginning of a series of shattering incidents, leading to the implosion of the family unit.
More info β
The Protector
2005 Β· β 7.1
A young fighter named Kham must go to Australia to retrieve his stolen elephant. With the help of a Thai-born Australian detective, Kham must take on all comers, including a gang led by an evil woman and her two deadly bodyguards.
More info β
Traces: The Kabul Museum 1988
2003 Β· β 9
The Kabul National Museum, once known as the "face of Afghanistan," was destroyed in 1993. We filmed the most important cultural treasures of the still-intact museum in 1988: ancient Greco-Roman art and antiquitied of Hellenistic civilization, as well as Buddhist sculpture that was said to have mythology--the art of Gandhara, Bamiyan, and Shotorak among them. After the fall of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1992, some seventy percent of the contents of the museum was destroyed, stolen, or smuggled overseas to Japan and other countries. The movement to return these items is also touched upon. The footage in this video represents that only film documentation of the Kabul Museum ever made.
More info β
Light Arose
2017 Β· β 7.5
Aloko Udapadi is a Sinhalese epic historical film based on the story of King Valagamba of Anuradhapura (89 β 77 BCE).
More info β
Words with Gods
2014 Β· β 5.7
The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates to an individual's relationship with his/her god or gods...or the lack thereof. In Words with Gods, each director recounts a narrative centered around human fragility, as well as environmental and cultural crises involving specific religions with which each has a personal relationship; including early Aboriginal Spirituality, Umbanda, Buddhism, the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism, and Atheism. An animated sequence by Mexican animator Maribel Martinez is woven through each of the film segments, with each segment narratively connected as a feature-length film.
More info β
The Anthem of the Heart
2017 Β· β 7.6
Jun is a girl whose words have been sealed away so that she cannot hurt anyone with them. But, one day, she is nominated to become an executive member of the "community outreach council." On top of that, Jun is also appointed to play the main lead in their musical...
More info β