Event

CEAS is partnering with the Freedom Crossing Institute on an East Asia religious studies-focused film festival throughout the month of November! Due to this co-sponsorship, University of Pennsylvania students, faculty, and staff can contact CEAS for a discount code.

Weekend 4 events include:

11/27 (Fri) 7pm EST - 11/27 (Fri) 9pm EST, Live
Super Citizen Ko (超級大國民)

11/27 (Fri) 9pm EST - 11/28 (Sat) 9pm EST
The Tree Remembers (還有一些樹)

11/28 (Sat) 7pm EST - 11/29 (Sun) 7pm EST
The Spokesperson (神仙代言人)

11/28 (Sat) 9pm Eastern - 11/29 (Sun) 9pm Eastern
Journey with Invisible Friends (看不見的台灣)

More details about the program from the organizers:
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Freedom Crossing Institute’s core mission is to promote the value of freedom, through dialogue that crosses human boundaries and limitations. These include personal, social, national, cultural, historical, and religious borders. We believe that dialogue expands our vision to understand people from different backgrounds and build an awareness of shared humanity, which is a key foundation of liberal democracy.

Through the 2020 Freedom Crossing Film Festival, we aim to trace the thread of common humanity across different civilizations and celebrate the diversity of storytelling in Asia. Our films represent eight languages, eight countries, and 16 forms of art and ritual for religious expression. This wide spectrum of faiths and human experience invites many opportunities for dialogue and offers insights into building freedom of religion in both Eastern and Western civilizations.

We are also holding three weekend workshops with leading thinkers and religious practitioners to help frame the global context of these films and encourage dialogue and reflection toward liberty through four themes: Crossing Borders and Identity, Crossing Faith and Religion, Crossing Life and Death, and Crossing History and Memory.

1) On our opening weekend (11.6-11.8, Crossing Borders and Identity) directly after the U.S. election, we collaborate with the Arlene and Leonard Swidler Foundation and have the honor of hosting Prof Leonard Swidler (founder, Dialogue Institute and Journal of Ecumenical Studies) to host a virtual workshop on Dialogue and Democracy. (Sat Nov 7th, 10am Eastern)

2) On week 2 (11.13-11.15, Crossing Faith and Religion), we will co-host a workshop with the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women. We have the honor to welcome Dr. Christie Chang (former Chair of Sakyadhita and Chair of the 17th Sakyadhita International Conference (Dec. 2021) in Sarawak, Malaysia), to lead a discussion on Dialogue with Awakening Global Buddhist Women: Liberation Stories Crossing the Himalayas to Taiwan, US, and the World. She will be joined by the Venerable Geshema Chopa Tenzin Lhadron (Dharamsala, India), the Venerable Tsunma Tenzin Dasel (Lead Teacher at Tashi Gatsel Ling in Maine, USA), and Darcie Price-Wallace (Doctoral Candidate, Buddhist Studies, North Western University). (Sat Nov 14th, 10am Eastern)

3) On week 3 (11.20-11.22, Crossing Life and Death), we will co-host a workshop with the Kwan Um School of Zen. We have the honor to welcome Dr. Judy Roitman (Zen Master Bon Hae, poet and Fellow, American Mathematical Society) and Dr. Stanley Lombardo (Zen Master Hae Kwang, translator and Prof. Emeritus of Classics, University of Kansas) to reflect on life and death. (Sat Nov 21st, 7pm Eastern)

Get tickets for the events at the festival website. University of Pennsylvania students, faculty, and staff can contact CEAS for a discount code.