Summaries

Disenchanted with the corruption of society, Jacob joins a monastery where his meditation practice ignites a spontaneous out-of-body experience.

Vision Statement. This film was inspired, in part, by my friend Jogen, a Zen priest who was a resident for fifteen years at the Great Vow Zen Monastery (where most of the film's scenes were shot). In this docufiction movie, Jogen plays the character of Jacob, a novice Zen monk wrestling with the aftermath of a shocking out-of-body experience while meditating. Though this story was set in a Zen Buddhist monastery with Buddhist non-actors, I never intended to make a "Buddhist movie". Instead, I felt ready to share a more personal story informed by my own traumatic out of body experience many years ago. Setting my story in a Zen monastery through the context of meditation practice opened up new ways to convey this life-changing event that continues to impact me and inspire my films to this day.

Details

Keywords
  • zen
  • meditation
  • astral
Genres
  • Mystery
  • Drama
Release date Mar 27, 2020
Countries of origin United States
Official sites Official site
Language English
Production companies Vertical Pool

Box office

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 12m
Color Black and White
Aspect ratio

Synopsis

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