RESISTANCE – They Fought Back

Jeri Jacquin

Currently in New York and coming to Los Angeles from directors Paula S. Apsell, Kirk Wolfinger and Abramorama is the stunning documentary RESISTANCE – They Fought Back.

At Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia, Professor Richard Freund, a Jewish Historian, Archaeologist tells of student asking, “why didn’t the Jews resist the Nazis?”. It is 1944 and the Germans are losing the war but the death camps are going strong. It is the voice of Marcel Nadjari, an Auschwitz prisoner says they were taken from Greece to a crematorium. Nadjari was one of the Sonderkommando.

Professor Gideon Greif, a Holocaust Historian referred to the prisoners, and rightly so, of being slaves to the Germans. Nadjari tells of what happened to the people in the chambers keeping the death camps a secret. Nadjari tells his own secret of crematorium 3 and the discovery of nine letters. Buried in a thermos, he describes in detail of the schedule giving historians a perspective of what actually happened.

Pawel Sawicki of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, thought the find incredible. Professor Freund believes that resistance is where the stories begin. He believes that the Jews did not go to their death like sheep to a slaughter but, in fact, they fought back (both armed and unarmed).

The documentary calls BOOK 1: Amidah – Resistance by any other name, and begins in Warsaw, Poland in 1939. As the Germans attack Poland, the war has officially begun. Seventeen-year-old Feige Peltel (codename: Vladka), speaks about when the Germans entered their city. Feige’s father tells them that the Germans are human and is shocked to discover what they are truly capable of. Vladka’s son Steven and wife Rita talk about what the family was told about the Germans. Father Benjamin Meed (and later Vladka’s husband) at the tender age of 21 was part of the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance.

Poland has a large Jewish population and the Germans would make it a prison. Professor Avinoam Patt from New York University, tells of how half a million Jews were forced into a ghetto. Marek Edelman, 21, was also a part of the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance and describes the living conditions forced on the Jewish people. From the small spaces to the amount of food they could eat, the Germans even filmed the death of people as if they were to blame.

The question of “why didn’t they fight back?” is answered by Rita Meed of ‘collective punishment’. If one person did something to fight back, one thousand could be punished for it. Their resistance was more spiritual and taking care of one another. The unarmed resistance is called Amidah explains Professor Dina Porat, Yad Vashem/Tel Aviv University. It means ‘stand up’ – meaning they will not give in to what is happening. Professor Yehuda Bauer of Yad Vashem/Hebrew University expands the definition as to “sit, stand, lie, or swim or stand up – it makes absolutely no difference – it is Amidah.”

Benjamin Meed took it upon himself to start a school because, as Professor Bauer says, “educating the young for after the war was against the Germans way”. Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland says, “the Germans wanted to undermine the humanity of the individual”. Germans wanted to show beggars and such to propagate their agenda. To keep their humanity together, people like Emanuel Ringelblum (codename: Oyneg Shabes) is going to make sure that it doesn’t happen by documenting life in the ghetto by becoming the Leader of Oyneg Shabes Archive. They documented life in the Warsaw ghetto, sealed it and buried it. David Graber, 19, buried the archive in the ground saying, “let history bear witness”.

Poland waits for the occupation to end not realizing that the goal of the Nazis is extermination. In Kovno, Lithuania, it is happening. A ghetto has sprung up and an underground resistance takes shape with more schools and an orchestra. At Fort IX in Kaunas/Kovno, Lithuania, Jews are disappearing. Paul Bauman, BGC Engineering Inc., talk of how people now do not know that 50,000 Jews died in this wide-open spot. Bauman’s team of engineers is trying to locate the death trenches. Ilya Lensky of the Jews in Latvia Museum says that no one could have believed what happened could happen. Professor Harry Jol, University of Wisconsin – EAU Claire, says what is important that stories are believed and they are here to verify stories.

The parents of the children of Kovno tried to save them. Professor Patrick Henry of Whitman College Emeritus says that only 11% of Jewish children survived to 1945. One such survivor is Dana Mazurkevich, Violinist, who’s parents found a way to smuggle her to safety as a small baby. She saw her parents doing so as a huge act of resistance.

In Vilnius Lithuania, also called Vilna, was considered the most Jewish city in the world as Professor David Fishman, from the Jewish Theological Seminary, explains. Samuel Bak, an artist, was a ghetto survivor from Vilna who saw his home as a center of learning and spirituality. The Germans arrived, attacking in 1941 and became overwhelmed with all things Jewish so they created The Paper Brigade to go through everything. Hadas Kalderon, granddaughter of the Yiddish Poet Avrom Sutzkever said the Germans wanted to make a Jewish Museum without Jewish people. Her grandfather was chosen to select the materials but instead, they spent time rescuing books and papers. What they could get through, they made a library and seen as a form of resistance.

Michael Kovner, son of Abba and Vitka Kempner-Kovner, is a painter like his father. The youth movement became important for the young. Two-thirds of the 70,000 population of Vilna were killed in the first six months of German occupation. In the Ponari Forest outside of Vilna are burial pits holding over 100,000 people. In 1941, Lovner calls out for the Jews to fight back knowing that once out of the gates, people will not come back. They are about to get help from a Finnish book. Now, Vilna has one goal – armed uprising.

But they were not the only ones preparing!

Also included, Professor Michael Berenbaum (American Jewish University), Margers Vestermanis (Historian, Riga Ghetto Survivor), Professor Yoel Yaari (Son of Bela Hazan), Lior Inbar (Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum), Professor Avinoam Patt (New York University), Professor Havi Dreifuss (Yad Vashem/Tel Aviv University), Michael Mackiewicz (Polish Army Museum), Mordecai Anielewicz (Commander, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising), Krystina Budnicka (Warsaw Ghetto Survivor), Svetlana Shtarkman (Historian/Tour Guide), Yonat Rotbain (Daughter of Ruzka Korchak), Michael Kagan (Son of Jack Kagan, Survivor), Chaim Melcer (Sobibor), Tomaz Oleksy-Zborowoski (Museum and Memorial in Sobibor), Esther Raab (Sobibor Resistance survivor), Alexander Pechersky (Soviet POW), Leon Felhendler (Son of a Rabbi), David Gur (Budapest Resistance Fighter), Professor Steven Bowman (University of Cincinnati Emeritus), Leon Cohen (Sonderkommando Prisoner), Eliezer Eisenschmidt (Sonderkommando Prisoner), and Ronnen Harran (Son of Ada Neufeld, Survivor).

Abramorama is the preeminent global theatrical distributions and rights partner for many documentary and music films and is recognized for the consistent high quality of its work on award winning features. Over the course of 20 years, Abramorama has successfully distributed and marketed hundreds of films including Ron Howard’s Grammy Award Winning THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK, Stanley Nelson’s MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL, as well as Academy Award Nominee and IDA Best Documentary Winner THE LOOK OF SILENCE. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.abramorama.com.

RESISTANCE – They Fought Back was the Official Selection of the 2023 Santa Barbara International Film Festival - Award Winner, Official Selection of the 2023 LA Indies – Award Winner, Official Selection of the 2023 Toronto Documentary Feature & Short Film Festival – Award Winner for Best Feature and Official Selection for the Boston Jewish Film Festival.

Filmed in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Israel and the United States, this film corrects the Jewish passivity myth. Eastern Europe held wide campaigns of resistance against the Nazis. This is a stunning documentary filled with stories that were never told in school or college. The documentary should now be considered a tool for teaching the truth about the Jewish Resistance. The question should never again be “why didn’t they fight the Nazis” but instead “tell us the story of the Jewish Resistance”.

I was moved beyond reason through the entire hour and a half of storytelling. It is intense, frightening, immensely sad but at the same time fascinating because of the stories being shared. Especially with the conflicts now, this documentary shares what it means to resist and on how many levels that applies to the Jewish people. Filmed in three “books”, it shows the heart of the Jewish people and the importance of never forgetting what happened so that it will never happen again. Yes, that phrase is said again and again but with this documentary, it has a whole new meaning.

In the end – you were taught they went like sheep to the slaughter, you were taught a Nazi lie!

TO WHAT REMAINS

 

Jeri Jacquin

Currently available in theatres from director Chris Woods and Abramorama is the story of lost and found with TO WHAT REMAINS.

Project Recover is a small group of scientists, oceanographers, archaeologists, historians, researchers, and military veterans who are looking through our vast oceans to recover the remains of more than 80,000 military pilots missing since World War II.

Using underwater drones and scuba dives, this team travels to beautiful waters to find the sadness of war. Keeping their job in mind, they want to give closure to families and find answers to questions about their missions. The project took many years and TO WHAT REMAINS is a look at the new mission, their findings and bringing the boys home to waiting families.

Beginning with Dr. Pat Scannon, Founder, BentProp Project and Co-Founder of Project Recover describing a plane found in the ocean and how it looked and what they found. Lt. Col. Casey Doyle of the United States Marine Corps. talks about his grandfather being shot down in September of 1944. Then, in 2004, Dr. Scannon and the Prop crew found his grandfather’s, Ssgt. Jimmie Doyle, plane and his remains were finally home.

Flip Colmer, Project Recover talks about how Dr. Scannon is determined. US Navy SEAL, Ret. Marcus Luttrell speaks of Dr. Scannon’s intensity going about the work he now finds so important. Knowing that failure is something that may happen, Dr. Scannon says you learn to live with it, move on and keep searching.

Lt. Doyle tells how his family never talked about his grandfather and how his father grew up with the questions of ‘where is Ssgt. Jimmie Doyle?’. Now, Lt. Doyle knew what he had to do to thank these men – be a part of what they are doing.

Dr. Scannon became obsessed when finding a wing of a plane knowing that if he could find this, he could find so much more. The technology was not what we have today, and it was using eyes and machetes to find these planes in remote locations. MIA (Missing in Action) pilot Lt. Richard Houle is the projects next search and recover. Maps, details, data help these men put their gear on and dive looking for the last known area. Lt. Houle served on the same ship as former President George H.W. Bush.

After doing his research, Dr. Scannon looked to the reunion of the combat pilots and discovers they have very sharp memories. Lt. Cantrell of the Corsairs Squad is a man who shared that sharp memory. Twenty-year-old young men in the most advanced planes on a landing field 100 yards from the Japanese shooting at them. Taking Cantrell back to Palau, the former pilot admits that he really only saw it all from the air.

That is when they put together the pieces of what happened from not only the pilots but also of the people living in Palau. There were many witnesses still alive to remember what they saw all those years ago. On the dive they did not find a plane, but they did find a ship. It is all a matter of checking off where to go next.

Marcus Luttrell knows what it is like to have men left behind and wanting to go back and get them. He also had the opportunity to talk a man named R.V. Burgin and with those who have served and got to know and become friends with prior Marines. Telling their story about the battle on the Island of Peleliu losing 6,000 men. After the battle, only 85 men survived a thirty-day battle. Yet, these two men talk only of simple things and joys of life.

On another dive for Dr. Scannon, they again did not find Lt. Houle’s plane, but they did find the plane of Lt. William Q. Punnell. Nephew Dennis Kelvie could not believe it when he received a call about his uncle’s remains. That is when the team experiences how MIA families finally have the opportunity to grieve and celebrate the life of someone who had always been a family’s mystery.

Dr. Scannon is looking for three UDT Navy Seals that have been unaccounted for, and this search is on land. Luttrell is with them in Palau in an area they believe through information given to them by village elders who called the missing Seals ‘frogmen’. The painstaking work begins of going through every inch of soil to find any remains.

The search for Lt. Houle is still on and the divers continue to go down into the mirky waters. Instead, Walter Mintus, gone for seven decades comes home and a community embraces their own.

Abramorama is the preeminent global theatrical distributions and rights partner for many documentary and music films and is recognized for the consistent high quality of its work on award winning features. Over the course of 20 years, Abramorama has successfully distributed and marketed hundreds of films including Ron Howard’s Grammy Award Winning THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK, Stanley Nelson’s MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL, as well as Academy Award Nominee and IDA Best Documentary Winner THE LOOK OF SILENCE. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.abramorama.com.

TO WHAT REMAINS is not only the story of Dr. Scannon’s obsession with finding those who were lost in the war. It is also a documentary of the families, friends and loved ones that were left behind. When a person is laid to rest, there is a finality that becomes a part of life but when it is an MIA, there is a constant nagging that accepting a loss is almost impossible.

The men and women who work with Dr. Scannon also know how these families feel as a few of the volunteers have had their family members found by Dr. Scannon. Taking many of the military men back to Palau and Orange Beach, they re-live moments of their youth but also, like those servicemen are found, they can close a chapter long lived in their lives.

That is amazing, heartbreaking, heartwarming and a look at the life these men lived, the things they have seen, and the friendships made from soldiers then and now.

In the end – their work is not done!

BORIS KARLOFF: The Man Behind the Monster

 

Jeri Jacquin

Now available from director Thomas Hamilton, Abramorama and Shout! Studios comes the story of a man who embraced the monster in BORIS KARLOFF: The Man Behind the Monster.

William Henry Pratt was born To British father Edward and Indian mother Eliza after the family returned to England from Bombay, but the family is dysfunctional until his mother became unable to care for Billy. At 9 he finds an escape into the theatre, yet his family life does not improve.

Once his formal education was complete, Billy moves to Canada changing his name to Boris Karloff, and in Vancouver he finds a job with the railway. He marries Jessie and they work hard together but he could not stop the dream of the stage. He joins the Jeanne Russell Company and begins a career that is given good reviews.

In 1920, he became an extra in Hollywood and lands a role in THE DEADLIEST SEX. He plays such an expansive roles and characters to earn a living and perfects his craft. He met Lon Chaney who gives him advice to stay with acting. In 1926 he does the silent film THE BELLS playing a hypnotist.

For the next two years he did construction and field work, he marries Dorothy Stein. Then comes the film THE CRIMINAL CODE, starring as Galloway, this is where Karloff begins telling the story of being an actor. The Great Depression happens and pay cuts begin to happen in Hollywood. Boris joined a group of actors that wanted to stand up for actor’s rights that are carried on today with the Screen Actors Guild.

Working his way through roles, GRAFT in 1931 would bring about the story of Frankenstein. It was Bela Lugosi who began the rise of monsters in films with the 1931 hit DRACULA.

Now, James Whale would bring the story of Mary Shelly's FRANKENSTEIN and Universal eventually announces Karloff to play the heavily made-up role of the monster. Every day, Karloff would spend hours transforming the actor into the character we see today in the film. When Frankenstein enters through the door and turns around, we see what del Toro would call 'a religious experience'.

Makeup artist Jack Pierce created makeup that allowed Karloff to still be able to show emotion and invite us into his pain. While some might have been afraid, there are those (including myself the first time I saw the film) who believed Frankenstein to be so much more than we could have imagined.

Even when there is horror, Frankenstein breaks our heart with emotion and innocence. One scene in the film brought Whale and Karloff into a separation working state yet the film was an instant success. Yet, while the film made Karloff a star, he was treated no better than Frankenstein.

In 1932, Karloff again plays a frightening character in THE OLD DARK HOUSE. Also, that year, Karloff is in the film THE MASK OF FU MANCHU from MGM which he referred to as a "shambles of a film". Again, in the same year came the release of THE MUMMY and Karloff works perfectly well with make up again provided by Jack Pierce but also plays two characters in the film.

In 1934, Karloff would eventually be able to finally play on screen with Lugosi in THE BLACK CAT. He has the opportunity to frighten audiences in a different way and provides such an evil character. He has the opportunity in 1935 to play twin good vs. evil brothers in the film THE BLACK ROOM and, in the same year returns to THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Returning as the monster, Karloff is not happy that the monster tries to speak.

THE INVISIBLE RAY, CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OPERA and IT'LL LIGHT THE WAY came around at the time where religion tried to tell Hollywood how to behave with films. THE WEST OF SHANG HI is clever and successful, he almost loses his contract because he was not a monster. He agrees to do DEVIL'S ISLAND and BRITISH INTELLIGENCE for the paycheck.

Finally in 1939, SON OF FRANKENSTEIN came along and is considered one of the best performances of his career. He also continues to make what are considered B-films, but it is a Karloff film and fans even today remember them with fondness.

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE comes to Broadway and even though it had been ten years since he set foot on stage, the show was a success. A few years later, Hollywood comes calling and wants to do a film with everyone but Karloff. HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN is filmed in 1944, and Val Lewton's THE BODY SNATCHERS in 1945 reuniting Karloff with Lugosi with RKO Pictures.

ISLE OF THE DEAD brings Karloff to an eerie island, but the story is based on a painting and finally BEDLAM bringing the trio of Lewton and Karloff together. A few more films brings him to do live television. He finally is able to do ARSENIC AND OLD LACE for a wide audience. He also has the chance to play George Darling and Captain Hook in PETER PAN. He also has his performance in THE LARK brought to television in 1957 along with his life story with THIS IS YOUR LIFE.

The 1960 brings about a resurgence of the appreciation of monsters and thriller films but Karloff moves back to England. There he brings about the series THRILLER, and it becomes highly successful and, some say, ahead of its time. Roger Corman brings him to his film THE RAVEN, followed by THE TERROR.  In 1966, he embraced story of HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS with more success with a voice that embraced the character.

THE SOCERERS in 1967 followed by TARGETS in 1968 going from horror by following a wife to horror of a real life rounds out amazing performances. There were only 8 more performances for Karloff, but the final would be on the Red Skelton Show performing with Vincent Price.

Because the show must always go on!

SHOUT! Factory has grown into a tremendous multi-platform media company. Releasing new animated features such as the exquisite Long Way North, and the epic fantasy Beauty and The Beast. Also, their own original horror film, Fender Bender gives fans a good scare. For more of what SHOUT Factor has to offer please visit www.shoutfactory.com.

Abramorama is the preeminent global theatrical distributions and rights partner for many documentary and music films and is recognized for the consistent high quality of its work on award winning features. Over the course of 20 years, Abramorama has successfully distributed and marketed hundreds of films including Ron Howard’s Grammy Award Winning THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK, Stanley Nelson’s MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL, as well as Academy Award Nominee and IDA Best Documentary Winner THE LOOK OF SILENCE. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.abramorama.com.

Cameos include Guillermo del Toro,Sir Christopher Frayling, Dick Miller, Jack Hill, Christopher Plummer, Orson Bean, David J. Skal, Sara Karloff, Leonard Maltin, Roger Corman, Thomas Hamilton, Cortlandt Hull, Ian Ogilvy, MJaymz Bee, Mark Voger, Gregory Mank, Ron Perlman, Kevin Brownlow, Bernie Coleman, Jacobs, Joe Dante, Peter Bogdonovich and narrator Paul Ryan.

BORIS KARLOFF: The Man Behind the Monster is an amazing documentary giving us the story of a man who shared so much in the way of entertainment. My favorite days of the week were Friday and Saturday nights because I was allowed to stay up late and watch 'scary movies' with my older brother.

Left alone while everyone else went to bed, we would find ourselves binging on the Creature Feature list of films. Screaming into our pillows or covering our eyes, you could be darn sure that Karloff was responsible for a great deal of that to be happening. FRANKENSTEIN was a favorite of mine (brother went for Lugosi which actually makes us laugh now that we know they were friends) and for all of the same reasons those in the documentary talk about.

I saw that character as so misunderstood, naïve and used by everyone around him. Trying to find his place in the world and being held accountable for the actions of others was something I understood coming from a dysfunctional family myself. The sadness swept over me like a repeating tidal wave yet, whenever the film was playing - I had to watch. It was not until I actually saw Karloff on the big silver screen, did I totally lose it in tears. How amazing!

The film explains so much to the generation that embraced his beginnings to the current generation because they too see something special in his performance. The only other Frankenstein I can even watch is Peter Doyle in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN for obvious reasons. Karloff WAS Frankenstein in every way and not just because of the makeup but because of the true emotions that came through the makeup.

BORIS KARLOFF: The Man Behind the Monster is also a journey down the timetable of his accomplishments and films that I had totally forgotten about. As a fan of "old" movies, I would definetly be up to a Karloff marathon, someone get TCM on the telephone now and demand it in time for the spooky season!

The cameos also give us an insight to the man, his flaws, successes and remembering being told to never give up on his dream. He did not give up and what we are all left with is a stunning collection of characters that will be with us and available to future generations to come.

It is actors such as Karloff that have me continually starring at screens to be swept away and whispering in the dark ‘gawd, I love movies!’.

LOOKING FOR A LADY WITH FANGS AND A MOUSTACHE

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theatres from writer/director Khyentse Norbu and Abramorama comes a look at life through the eyes of death while LOOKING FOR A LADY WITH FANGS AND A MOUSTACHE.

Tenzin (Tsering Tashi Gyalthang) lives in Nepal and wants to bring to the city the best coffee shop in Kathmandu. He is motivated, has a plan and spends time looking for the perfect space. While investigating one place, he sees a painting on the wall that he does not immediately recognize. Meeting up with friend Jachung (Tulku Kungzang) to practice their music, Tenzin has a vision of a girl and soon after that he finds himself having strange dreams and sees his sister who passed away long ago.

He tries to tell his friend Jachung about it several times but Jachung seems distracted by his relationship with Kunsel (Tenzin Kunsel). Suggesting that Tenzin see the Monk Oracle (Ngawang Tenzin), Jachung brings him unexpectedly to a party. That is when Tenzin learns that his life force is running out and he is going to die.

The Monk Oracle tells the young coffee entrepreneur that he needs to find a Dakini in hopes of changing his destiny. A Dakini is the embodiment of feminine energy and they are not easy to find. Instead of listening to the Monk, Tenzin goes to the doctor to see if there is anything else wrong that can be cured with medicine.

Tenzin agrees to meet with the Master of the Left-Hand Lineage (Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche) who gives him specific instruction on how to approach and gift a Dakini. Tenzin puts everything else in his life aside to do as instructed plus he is given a sacred hand signal for anyone he thinks is a Dakini but it comes with a warning.

Time is running out and Tenzin is panicked to find the one thing that can save him!

Gyalthang as Tenzin is truly magnificent as a man trying to live in the modern world while surrounded by a city that is deeply rooted in the traditions of its people and culture. Watching is journey through the film is one that is more relatable than people might realize. Not to say we are all going to check out in seven days but that he starts out believing his life is completely one way but perhaps it was the reality of it that was the real illusion. Well done.

Kungzang as Jachung is a good friend to Tenzin but does have a bit of a problem on the lady front. He seems a bit of a pushover and, to be honest, is not an attractive quality to my way of thinking. Yet with his friend Tenzin, he wants only the best and taking him to see the Monk was him being a true friend and I thought it charming.

Tenzin as the Monk is completely hilarious without perhaps intending to be so much. He is an ipad using, sunglass wearing, hipster Monk who puts the fear of life into the coffee entrepreneur. When it started to get a little bit out of his league, the one thing I’ll give him credit for is moving him over to someone who truly knew the rules of the dakinis!

Rinpoche as the Master of Left-Hand Lineage is not someone to be trifled with in the slightest. He does not play games and does not pull any punches. The Master quickly realizes that the Monk Tenzin had been seeing before did not exactly have Tenzin on the path. Seeing that Tenzin can be difficult, the Master makes it clear he does not have time for someone who is not serious about what must be done. Rinpoche’s character is exactly who I would want to tell me what’s what if I was in Tenzin’s shoes!

Kunsel as Kunsel is a young girl interested in music and seems very comfortable mixing tradition with the modern world. She fits beautifully into both except when it comes to the interest of Jachung. Kunsel is quite ready to change her life and is happy the way things are. That is not to say that life has something different planned for her. Kunsel is delightful but can put someone in their place if needs be and, honestly, she did make me laugh a few times.

Other cast include Divya Dev as Dev, Karma Shakya as Karma, Kelsang Tethong as Tenzin’s Mother, Parikshit B. Rana as Parikshit, and Rabindra Baniya as Rabindra.

Abramorama is the preeminent global theatrical distributions and rights partner for many documentary and music films and is recognized for the consistent high quality of its work on award winning features. Over the course of 20 years, Abramorama has successfully distributed and marketed hundreds of films including Ron Howard’s Grammy Award Winning THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK, Stanley Nelson’s MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL, as well as Academy Award Nominee and IDA Best Documentary Winner THE LOOK OF SILENCE. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.abramorama.com.

Director Norbu says of his film, “In this modern, scientific world – a world on the verge of creating artificial intelligence, and a world that disparages anything not amenable to reason 0 I try in this film to explore some of the last genuine residues of Tibetan mysticism. Even among Tibetans themselves, their traditional beliefs, and ways of behaving and look at the world are increasingly rare and today carry little if any weight. Yet, I believe this ancient wisdom, which reflects the Buddhist view of reality, has something vital to offer our modern world.”

He continues, “I intend this film to express the deep respect for feminine energy embodies in that wisdom, and to portray in a contemporary setting both the transformative power of this energy and some of the ways it has traditionally been invoked.”

LOOKING FOR A LADY WITH FANGS AND MOUSTACHE is just so beautifully done. Marrying both the characters desire to live in the modern world and Tenzin’s newfound respect for mysticism gives actor Gyalthang a heavy burden. Yet his portrayal is stunning, and I felt while watching him as if I were intruding on his journey. I cheered for him and with each rejection my heart sank – that is what a stunning performance does. He may have been caught between two worlds based on fear, but he came to understand the old and the new could coexist.

In the end – two worlds can coexist when you believe!