Oddball Films’ myriad offerings
By: Mara Math
Special to The Examiner
August 21, 2009
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| Colorful world: The many facets of Tibet is the topic at Oddball Films this week. (Courtesy) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Oddball Films offers screenings of film oddities every week, ranging from quirky and humorous to profoundly moving, and everything in between. This week’s offerings feature films about Tibet. The Examiner spoke with founder and curator Stephen Parr:
What does Oddball do that’s so odd? We try to give a different perspective, to present things in an enlightening yet entertaining way, in an intimate atmosphere.
What we screen is almost entirely from our own archives — we have probably the largest film archive in Northern California. We have 50,000-plus film and media elements (digital, videotapes), and about 80 percent of what we screen is not available on DVD or in any other format — or anywhere else at all.
What inspired you to put together this particular program? I’m personally very interested in the subcontinent, and I spend a lot of time in India. What’s amazing about Tibet is that despite being such a really small country, it has such a huge influence on the rest of the world. There are millions and millions of people around the world who embrace the ancient tradition of Tibetan spirituality. The program is multifaceted, embracing ethnographic, anthropological, philosophical, spiritual and avant-garde approaches.
And each of these films represents one of the strands you named? They overlap; each film has elements of several approaches. The 1982 film “Tibet in Transition,” which I’ve never seen anywhere else, documents that richness of Tibetan life — the medicinal system, crafts, dances, spiritual practices — and shows how after they’ve been self-reliant for centuries, they are being forced into transition since the Chinese took over.
What’s an example of an avant-garde film on Tibet? David LeBrun’s “Tanka” uses 18th- and 19th-century scrolls — Tibetan tanka are cloth wall-hangings that usually have a deity portrayed — to convey a spiritual experience. These paintings are meant to be perceived in motion, and LeBrun uses them to create an animated journey through the “Tibetan Book of the Dead.” It’s really beautiful.
What makes the other two films unique? “Between Time: A Tibetan Village” is about a Buddhist lama, a village elder and a shaman conducting an exorcism, blending Tibetan Buddhism with Bon, a form of animistic shamanism. They do use animals in the ceremony but I don’t remember it being particularly offensive.
And “Requiem for a Faith”? That’s another rarely seen gem, from 1958. Huston Smith, a leading scholar of religious experience, gives an overview of the Tibetan worldview/belief system. If you just looked at the pictures and didn’t listen, you’d still get a lot out of this film.
IF YOU GO
Between Time and Tibet
Where: Oddball Films, 275 Capp St., San Francisco
When: 8:30 p.m. today
Tickets: $10; RSVP requested
Contact: (415) 558-8117,info@oddballfilm.com, oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Time_Tibet.pdf
