Marisakeko Manchhe

Tragic circumstances bring together the wife and the mother of two migrant workers - one from the east, the other from west Nepal.

Across the Forest

In the mountains of Transylvania, ancient beliefs in the supernatural can still be found. These beliefs are quickly dying out as the world modernizes around the tiny villages of the Carpathians.

ASHRAM: The Spiritual Community of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda

In the spring of 2017, film-makers Vincent Moon and Priscilla Telmon were invited to make a contemporaneous portrait of The Sai Anantam Ashram, the multi-ethnic and multi-generational spiritual community founded in 1983 by Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, which included speaking with some of the community's elders, as well as Alice's sister, singer Marilyn McLeod.

Charles Manson, The Church of Satan, The Universal Order & The Process Church of Final Judgment

Out of the spiritual chaos of the 1960s, more strange cults and unorthodox messiahs have emerged than ever. Charles Manson is seen as the annoying result of libertarianism of the 1960s - the Cain who murdered the Abel from The Love Generation. Or in the words of one commentator; "the Elvis of alienation."

Climbing Everest with a Mountain on My Back: The Sherpa's Story

Every year, over a thousand climbers try to reach the summit of Mount Everest, with the annual record for successful attempts currently standing at 633. But of that number, nearly half were Sherpas - the mountain's unsung heroes. Yet the Sherpa community has remained secretive about their nation, culture and experiences living in the shadow of the world's highest mountain. Now, for the first time, they open the door into their world. Without the expertise of the Sherpas, only the hardiest and most skilful climbers would succeed. Every day they risk their lives for the safety of others, yet they seek neither glory nor reward, preferring to stay in the background. Following the stories of four such Sherpas - Phurba, Ngima, Ngima Tenji and Gelu - this film reveals the reality of their daily lives, not just up the mountain, but with their families after they return home.

The Jew in the Lotus

Tells how Rodger Kamenetz, author of the best-selling 1994 book by the same title, found his way back to Judaism - the tradition of his birth.

The Tao of Bluegrass: A Portrait of Peter Rowan

There are only a few Bluegrass Boys still around that played with the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe. Peter Rowan was a bluegrass boy in the 1960's for only a short time, but Bill's influence and musical knowledge still resonates with Peter. Even as he branched out into his own music after leaving Bill's band, his bluegrass roots were never far away. This portrait of Peter expands beyond his music to his artistic and spiritual endeavors spanning four decades giving the viewer an in-depth look at a true legend within our Americana musical history. His lyrical quality and melodies are memorable; influencing the next generation of musicians, sharing what Bill taught him and what he has learned being a troubadour traveling the world.

Emocean

Emocean started out as a surf film but quickly turned into something so much more than wild waves and barrel rides. This is a documentary with soul; a salty blend of stories by the eclectic assortment of people sharing tales of adventure, adrenaline, inspiration, love and loss and their relationship with the ocean. Some are well-known like Hawaii's Pipeline and California's Mavericks and others are remote spots tucked high up in North West Australia and deep in South Australia. This film, underpinned by inspiring surfing, is also a love letter to the sea woven through with experiences from surfers, filmmakers, fishermen, marine scientists and watermen.

女人50分钟

A representation of queer and feminist imagery that was mainly shot in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, remote and developing areas in southwest China, and metropolitan cities like Beijing from 2000 to 2004 to document the social changes in contemporary China. The director sympathetically and erotically represents a variety of women, including women as laborers, women as prayers, women in the ground, women in marriage, and women who lie on the funeral pyre with their dead husbands. Her camera juxtaposes the mountains and rivers in old times, the commercialized handicrafts as exposition, the capital exploitation of the elders’ living space, and the erotic freedom of the young people in a changing city.

Blindsight

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

Muerte es Vida (Death is Life)

Monarch butterflies have brought hope to the darkest times of people's lives. In Mexico, when they arrive for Day of the Dead, they are thought to be souls of the departed. Coincidence?

Compassion in Exile: The Story of the 14th Dalai Lama

A portrait of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, which includes historical footage of China's repression of Tibetan Buddhism in 1959.

Les Danses de Tami

Philip K Dick: A Day in the Afterlife

A poetic look at the life and legacy of legendary author Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), who wrote over over a hundred short stories and 44 novels of mind-bending sci-fi, exploring themes of authority, drugs, theology, mental illness and much more.

Cherry Blossom Time in Japan

In this Traveltalk short, the symbolic role of cherry blossoms in Japanese culture is explored as well as the traditional Japanese religions of Shintoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.

Malawi: Buddha in Africa

Enock is six years old when he is taken to a Confucian Buddhist orphanage and given the Chinese name Alu. He becomes extremely skilled in acrobatics. Suddenly he must make a choice to reunite with the culture of Africa or to sign up for five years in order to study in Taiwan.

Silo

The best kept secret of The Andes will be revealed… For some, he is the thinker that set in motion a spiritual and political movement that passed through borders and extended from Argentina to India. For other, he is the leader of a sect, a skillful manipulator and demagogue. For most, he is still a mystery. Through this feature length documentary film we try to tell the life and work of this extraordinary person, posing a disturbing question: Who is Silo?

The 99 Names of God

Arab-American filmmaker Yumna Al-Arashi embraces the rhythmic rituals that have run alongside Islamic tradition throughout the centuries in this surreal and poetic short film. Piecing together old and new, Al-Rashi's dream-like imagery breathes fresh air to a subject hardly seen in positive light.

Believers

These days it seems that nothing is as polarizing and controversial as religious belief. Everywhere one goes it seems that people are asking the question: Do we even need religion? Is it limiting our understanding? What kind of world is being produced by these faith systems? Regardless of your answers to these questions, it is hard to deny that worship still plays an important role in many people's lives and many people simply do not understand where others are coming from. Believers is a unique exploration of those questions related to faith by focusing the lens on five of the world's belief systems, Agnosticism, and the new Atheism. The film follows Sacha Sewhdat's personal journey towards understanding as he searches for the value of religion in modern society. With honesty and objectivity Sacha explores what it means to believe in a higher power or what it would mean to let those beliefs go. It will both inform and challenge what you know about religion in the 21st Century.

Apocalypse, Man

Most people were first exposed to Michael C. Ruppert through the 2009 documentary, Collapse, directed by Chris Smith. Apocalypse, Man is an intimate portrait of a man convinced of the imminent collapse of the world, but with answers to how the human spirit can survive the impending apocalypse.