Saturday, May 7, 2011, Tribeca Theater 2, 12.30 pm,
Holy Kitchen (DOCUMENTARIES) Directed by Vikas Khanna
USA, 2011, 43 Minutes, English, World Premiere
The Holy Kitchens film series is an attempt to tie together the meaning of food in religion with the real world experience of sharing food in a spiritual context.
At any given time somewhere on Earth, people are gathering to share food in the name of God. This is spiritual sustenance, meant to bring us closer together and closer to the Creator. It brings the community together into a sense of shared identity and purpose. This is the story of the Holy Kitchens.
Karma to Nirvana is the second Film in the Holy Kitchen Series - it explores the food sharing traditions of Hinduism.
The life and stories of Lord Krishna, - who is recognized as the eighth avatar of Vishnu or as the Supreme Being, is the starting point for the exploration of the ties between sharing food and spiritual bonds. However one sees or defines Lord Krishna, the sharing of food and the concept of service to one’s fellow man is tightly woven into the principles of karma as he set them forth in the Bhagavad-Gita
This is also where he set forth his belief in nonviolence and the importance of restraining the destructive passions which would be adopted so famously by the world’s greatest civil rights leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the film Chef Vikas Khanna takes us on a journey to Kerela – to the ashram of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, as well as ISKCON – Food relief foundation in India and the UK headquarters to learn more about the present day food sharing practices and rituals. Everyday devotees distribute hundreds of thousands of meals free of charge in the name of God as an offering, - as a way of sharing God’s Love with others. ISKCON’s Mid-day meal program provides free meals to children in schools in India thereby helping them get an education and ensuring a brighter future for them as well as for India.
According to the Bhagavad-Gita – “Sharing food is the highest form of Karma”. It is this selfless service to others that eventually leads us to the path to higher spirituality and thus to Nirvana.
With: Kosu Directed by Saro Varjabedia
USA/ India, 2009, 22 minutes, New York Premiere
An American, who volunteers with an Indian orphanage, disrupts the status quo, provoking the couple running it to work through their emotional scars.
and
Autumn Meanderings Directed by: Archana Vallabhaneni
USA, 2011, 22 minutes, New York Premiere
‘Autumn Meanderings’ is a story about three teenage siblings, who take off on a camping trip, and discover life's complexities and in a way, each other too, in the process. Floyd, Mason and Emory are the siblings who have a history of getting along well with each other, go on an annual camping trip. As this is a turning point in each of their lives, each one of them has an urgent need to be camping or be far away from the trip altogether. The youngest one, Emory, gets lost in the woods - causing even more unrest.
