Film descriptions
Courtesy of the Denver Film Society
May 24, 2007
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(2006/USA) Director: Linda Hattendorf Featuring: Jimmy Mirikitani Time: 74 minutes Language: English

The Cats of Mirikitani
4 p.m., Sunday, June 3

“Make art not war” is Jimmy Mirikitani’s motto. This 85-year-old Japanese-American artist was born in Sacramento and raised in Hiroshima, but by 2001 he was living on the streets of New York with the twin towers of the World Trade Center still ominously anchoring the horizon behind him. What begins as a simple verité portrait of one homeless man becomes a rare document of daily life in New York. As tourists and shoppers hurry past, he sits alone on a windy corner in Soho drawing whimsical cats, bleak internment camps, and the angry red flames of the atomic bomb. When a neighboring filmmaker stops to ask about Mirikitani’s art, a friendship begins that will change both their lives.

Blending beauty and humor with tragedy and loss, “The Cats of Mirikitani” is an intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing power of art.

(2006/Netherlands) Director: Mark Verkerk Featuring: Abbot Phra Khru Bah Neua Chai Kositto, Sister Mae Ead, Nehn Sukh, Pan Saen, Boontam Time: 97 minutes Language: Thai with English subtitles [AsiaXpress' review]

In the borderlands of Thailand’s Golden Triangle, a rugged region known for its drug smuggling and impoverished hill tribes, one man devotes himself to the welfare of the region’s children. A former Thai boxer turned Buddhist monk, Phra Khru Bah Neua Chai Kositto (also known as the Tiger Monk), travels widely on horseback, fearlessly dispensing prayers, health care, education and tough love to villagers far from the protection and support of governments or non-governmental organizations. The Golden Horse Temple is equal parts orphanage, school and clinic – a haven for the children of the region, who see him as a shaman, father figure and coach.

Stunning cinematography, intimate filmmaking and an incredibly compelling story make this film an extraordinary experience. “Buddha’s Lost Children” gives the term “grassroots Buddhism” new meaning. In the end it’s the children’s transformation from neglected village boys to self-confident novices that make the film really worth seeing.