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THE MOUNTAIN PATH

IN PERSON: Director Edward Burger

VERY SPECIAL GUEST: Bill Porter, author of The Road to Heaven—Encounters with Chinese Hermits, the book that inspired the film

This film is an intimate insider’s look at meditation masters and their students living in scattered retreats dotting China’s Zhongnan Mountains. These peaks have been home to recluses since the time of the Yellow Emperor, some five thousand years ago. Widely thought to have been wiped out by a modernizing China, this tradition is seen in this elegant film to continue with real energy and substance. Filmed on location in China. In Chinese and English with English subtitles. Director: Edward Burger (US 2021) 93 min.

Bill Porter rarely travels from his home in Port Townsend, WA these days, and we’re delighted to host him for this very special event. Besides The Road to Heaven and his other nonfiction work, Zen Baggage, he is a highly regarded translator of Chinese poetry and Buddhist texts, using the pen name Red Pine. He is particularly known for his well-informed and accessible renderings of The Heart Sutra, The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain, Lao-tzu’s Taoteching, The Platform Sutra, The Diamond Sutra, P’u Ming’s Oxherding Pictures & Verses, and the recent Zen Roots. He will be signing copies of his books before the screening, and he and director Edward Burger will be in conversation on stage after the screening.

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BUDDHIST FILM FOUNDATION

SUNDAY, MAY 15 • 4:15

$12.50 General  |  $9. Senior • Youth • Matinée  |  $7 CFI Members