Film premiere: Carving the Divine
The Australian Independent Film Festival is a festival short films and documentaries being held in Brisbane at Metro Arts between Nov 1 and Nov 3. The Australian Premiere of the Japanese documentary, Carving The Divine – Buddhist Sculptors of Japan will screen November 3, 2019.
This film offers a rare and intimate look into the life and artistic process of modern-day Busshi – practitioners of a 1400 year lineage of woodcarving at the beating heart of Japanese, Mahayana Buddhism.
Yujiro Seki, Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Dialogue Translator, Writer, and Producer:
"My name is Yujiro Seki. I am a director, writer and producer of Carving the Divine. I came to the United States years ago with the single vision in my mind. My vision was to create a movie that inspires people.
"At some point in my career, I came to the realization that if I was going to sacrifice some of my life time to make a feature length movie I wanted to make something meaningful to myself as well as to humanity as a whole. I decided to go back to where I came from, the heart of who I am.
"Carving the Divine is a documentary film which offers a rare and intimate look into the life and artistic process of modern-day Busshi – practitioners of a 1400 year lineage of woodcarving at the beating heart of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism.
It was a long, painful, heartbreaking journey for me. It took almost 6 years to reach the point where I am finally proud to present this documentary to the world.
"I promise you this: by joining me on this journey, you will learn this beautiful tradition of Japanese culture which is still virtually unknown to the Western world."
Rev. Marvin Harada, Co-Director, Center for Buddhist Education, Buddhist Churches of America:
"Carving the Divine is more than a movie about amazing wood sculptors of Japan. To me, the movie is about the Master-Apprentice, or the Master-Disciple relationship, and how this is still being transmitted in the traditional manner.....stern, but yet ultimately kind, in training the apprentice to be a true artist in both skill and spirit."