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Audiences might be surprised when two popular American cartoons show up during a Buddhism-themed film festival later this month.
King of the Hill: Won't You Pimai My Neighbor (2000) and The Simpsons: She of Little Faith (2001) will be screened as part of this month's International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF).
In the latter cartoon, a frustrated Lisa Simpson, who is seeking an antidote to the commercialisation of Christmas, consults with a Buddhist monk.
"We want to make the festival accessible to all age groups and all faiths, and the two cartoons are something that all young adults enjoy and relate to," said Bhavra Vedhara, co-founder and executive director of the Singaporean not-for-profit organisation, Asian Buddhist Film Festival Pte Ltd (ABFF), that has been formed to organise the event.
"This is really an art festival for everyone. It involves compelling stories that deal with universal things. You may be a Christian and I might be a Hindu, but we are still people."
The ABFF has asked the Singapore Tourism Board to help publicise the event through the Uniquely Singapore website.
"We feel very strongly that arts festivals gather strength and momentum with time and as people in Asia become more aware of our event, they will start coming to Singapore for it," said Vedhara.
The festival will also feature four documentaries, but their content has more do with everyday reality than Buddhism. Dutch film-maker Mark Ververk's award-winning 2006 film Buddha's Lost Children documents a boxing-trained Thai monk waging a battle to help orphans, fighting drug abuse and protecting a vanishing way of life.
The festival will also explore the lighter side of spiritual life by screening the same number of comedies. Shower (1999) — a family comedy that will kick off the festival — tells the story of how the Buddhist spirit lived on in the hearts of the faithful during China's Cultural Revolution.
"Laughter is a unifying force and people can understand comedies no matter which language they are in, so we organisers asked ourselves: 'Why not show something that everyone can get excited and happy about?" said Vedhara.
The festival will be funded entirely through contributions from corporate sponsors and donors, and proceeds from the opening night go to The President's Challenge 2007 and the Children's Cancer Foundation. - TODAY/ra
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