“I wanted the audience to feel like they had met Trungpa,” says Crazy Wisdom filmmaker Johanna Demetrakas. “I want people to leave the theater feeling like they had spent an hour and a half in his presence.”
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s presence is legendary. Consider: Allen Ginsberg considered him his guru; Thomas Merton wanted to write a book with him; Pema Chodron was his student and Joni Mitchell wrote a song about him. He inspired a huge Buddhist movement in the West. Crazy Wisdom looks at the “life and times” of this major, if controversial, Buddhist figure.
Crazy Wisdom is a long time coming. Demetrakas spent five years researching the film and four more years making it. Many Tricycle Community Members have said that it’s the film that they are most excited about in the first Tricycle BuddhaFest Online Film Festival.
It starts this Monday, June 27 and shows through Monday, July 4. If you don’t have a festival pass, get one here.