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UCLA FILM & TELEVISION ARCHIVE

Reimagining the Olympiad: Body and Mind

UCLA Film & Television Archive, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Alice Waters Institute for Edible Education at UC Davis present

December 9, 2023 - 4:00 pm

Free

At the Billy Wilder Theater

Reimagining the Olympiad invites you to join fellow Angelenos in an inaugural salon to commune through film, conversation and food on the subject of healing the body in its various states of being, from the physical and spiritual to the body politic and the planetary body. Renowned theater director Peter Sellars will introduce the West Coast theatrical premiere of his latest multidisciplinary performance film, this body is so impermanent… (2021), born of a remarkable international collaboration between him and an ensemble of acclaimed artists: South Indian devotional singer Ganavya, master calligrapher Wang Dongling and improvisatory dancer Michael Schumacher. The audience will be eased into the screening with a group meditation before the start of the film. Following the screening, Sellars will be joined on stage by a panel of prestigious guests for a wide-ranging conversation on paths of healing and care in this global moment of converging social and environmental crises. The program will wrap on a note of joyful communion around regenerative music, dance and food. Details to be announced. Please check back for the full program.

this body is so impermanent…

U.S., 2021

Inspired by the first century Buddhist text Vimalakirti Sutra, the latest project from renowned theater director Peter Sellars is a call to community to learn and heal together during a time of sickness. A multi-disciplinary performance film, this body is so impermanent… was born of a remarkable international collaboration between Sellars and a trio of acclaimed artists as COVID-19 washed over the globe. Working virtually across continents under quarantine, South Indian devotional singer Ganavya, master calligrapher Wang Dongling and improvisatory dancer Michael Schumacher engaged with the Sutra and each other in an ensemble act of creation and healing. Sellars orchestrates breath and brushstroke, movement and mindfulness into a visual poem of stunning power. 

DCP, color, 79 min. Director: Peter Sellars. With: Wang Dongling, Ganavya, Michael Schumacher.

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