In this episode, documentary filmmaker Yujiro Seki, who lives in Japan, discusses his film CARVING THE DIVINE: BUDDHIST SCULPTORS OF JAPAN. The film, which he produced, filmed, directed, and edited, has been his passion project for 10 years. This visually stunning and poignant documentary 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. Busshi sculpt intricate, delicate, and divine images of Buddhist deities, demons, and saints.
The film provides profound insight into the Japanese psyche as well as the nature of human perseverance through suffering. The film follows apprentices struggling to prove themselves worthy to their mentors and struggling to preserve this ancient legacy in a rapidly changing Japan. The Busshi Grand Master Saito says his quest is to “leave nothing but great works behind.” This film is truly a great work that will inspire everyone who watches it.
Yujiro-san is currently raising money through an Indiegogo campaign to distribute the film worldwide. To watch a trailer and learn more visit CARVING THE DIVINE.
In his own words: “My name is Yujiro Seki, and over the course of the past several years, I singlehandedly planned, shot, and edited a feature-length documentary, called Carving the Divine - Buddhist Sculptors of Japan. It took me about 6 years to complete the production and post-production. It took another 4 years of film festivals and social media promotion. Finally, I won the Best Director of a Foreign Language Documentary award at the Milan International Filmmaker Festival and premiered at the famous Raindance Film Festival in London. CARVING THE DIVINE has become the official selection for 30 film festivals, showing in a total of 22 countries, and has won awards at 12 festivals worldwide! Now I’m ready to make it public. Now, it’s time to distribute the film. I'd like to make CARVING THE DIVINE available to the public as soon as possible. Yes, we are raising distribution funds! I invite you to be a part of our journey to spread this incredible 1400-year-old Busshi tradition to the world.”
Check out the official site: https://www.carvingthedivine.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarvingTheDivine/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carvingthedivine/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarvingDivine
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/carvingthedivine
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