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Carving the Divine - Buddhist Sculptors of Japan with Q&A

Sat, May 20

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Small World Books

Experience the 1,400 year old tradition of the Busshi, classically trained sculptors responsible for creating the marvelous and enduring works of Japanese Buddhist statuary.

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Carving the Divine - Buddhist Sculptors of Japan with Q&A
Carving the Divine - Buddhist Sculptors of Japan with Q&A

Time & Location

May 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT

Small World Books, 425 North St, Rochester, NY 14605, USA

About the event

The film showing will begin at 8 PM. The film runs for about an hour and a half. Q&A will follow with the producer, writer, and director Yujiro Seki. Tickets can be pre-ordered for $8. Tickets will also be available at the door for a $10 suggested donation. Proceeds will go directly to the director of the film to support the film distribution campaign.

Screening for the first time in Rochester, including Q&A with Yujiro Seki: writer, director, and producer of Carving the Divine! Experience the 1,400 year old tradition of the Busshi, classically trained sculptors responsible for creating the marvelous and enduring works of Japanese Buddhist statuary. My friend Yujiro Seki has put his blood, sweat, and tears into this film and finally it is ready for presentation worldwide! This is an unprecedented look into an elite and ancient tradition that continues into the present day.

Light refreshments will be provided and a small exhibit of Japanese Buddhist statuary and other classical Chinese and Japanese Buddhist art will be on display before and after the film screening.

"Carving the Divine is a documentary film that offers a rare look into a 1400-year-old Buddhist woodcarving tradition and the practitioners struggling to preserve its legacy in a rapidly changing Japan.

Determined to pass his craft down to future generations, Master Koun Seki, the former apprentice of renowned Busshi, Kourin Saito, interviews a candidate applying to be his new apprentice. Quickly though, we discover this apprenticeship and the Busshi’s life to be far less glamorous, and much more austere, than we (or the Candidate) would’ve likely imagined. 

Once Master Seki makes his selection, we’re taken on a trip through a guild culture unlike anything existing today in The West: From the growing pains of a novice apprentice, to the entire guild working together as one body to create breathtaking works of art, to the monkish practice of the famed, Grand Master Saito himself, alone on his quest to “leave nothing but great works behind.” 

Carving the Divine has become the official selection for 30 film festivals, showing in a total of 22 countries, and won awards at 13 festivals worldwide, such as winning the Best Director Award of a Foreign Language Documentary at World Cinema Milan and premiering at the famous Raindance Film Festival in London."

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/carvingthedivine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtdhue11UA

Tickets

  • Film Screening

    From $5.00 to $8.00
    Sale ended
    • $5.00
      +$0.13 service fee
    • $8.00
      +$0.20 service fee

    Total

    $0.00

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