A Talk and Film about Contemporary Tibetan Nature, People and their Beliefs

What:                   Film “Embrace,” directed by Dan Smyer Yü & Pema Tashi

When:                  Friday, September 14 at 19:00.

Where:             Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School (BFM) Cinema Hall, Tallinn University, Narva Road 27

The film screening will be preceded by a 30 min Introduction to the film by Dan Smyer Yü, Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Trans-Himalayan Studies at Yunnan Minzu University. An informal meet-the-director and social session with free snacks, coffee or wine will follow.

 About Dan Smyer Yü:

Prior to his current faculty appointment at Yunnan Minzu University he worked at Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, the University of Göttingen in Germany, and Minzu University of China, Beijing. He is the author of The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in China: Charisma, Money, Enlightenment (Routledge, 2011), Mindscaping the Landscape of Tibet: Place, Memorability, Ecoaesthetics (De Gruyter, 2015), and numerous book chapters and academic articles. His current research interests are religion and ecology, environmental humanities, transboundary state effects, hydraulic politics, climate change and heritage preservation, Buddhism and peacebuilding, and comparative studies of Eurasian secularisms.

 About the film:

Embrace (2011) documents the ritualized relationship of an Eastern Tibetan (Amdo) community engaged in tantric practices, and the land that supports them. Engaging the deities of local mountains and the spirits of water and weather, a father and son share their yogic understanding of the state of their environment as a reflection of consciousness-in-place.

 Link to the film and trailer: http://www.smyeryu.com/dan/posts/embrace-documentary-trailer/

 The event is sponsored by the Research Fund of the School of Humanities, Tallinn University.

Contact: Karin Dean or Alexander Horstmann.