Spiritual Cinema:Ocean of Pearls January 15, 2010

Come join us on the 3rd Friday of each month for popcorn and a spiritual, awakening, feel-good movie! We begin gathering at 6:30 for the movie shorts and the feature film starts at 7:00 p.m.

SHORT FILMS FOR THIS EVENING: The Gift: Episode 3: In the last installment of our original three-part series, Bonnie begins using a camera as Eela and Eno have taught her, offering Hailey a life-changing opportunity. Is it possible that the camera truly holds the creative, healing power of the ancient Lemurian dreamers? See how this beautifully crafted short series comes to completion, in a stellar wrap-up of The Gift. 16 min. Written and directed by Scott Cervine. Charlie Thistle: Charlie Thistle is a bureaucrat who has worked 20 years at the Department of Normality, where change is not tolerated. One gray day fades into the next until one night he wrestles with the question, “Is this the way things were meant to be?” He dreams of a world in color, where animals speak and trees grow indoors. There comes a time in every man’s life when he has to stand up for what he believes in, and Charlie’s day is coming! 15 min. Written and directed by Bragi Schut. The Umbrella: Set in a metropolitan setting, this short film follows the unexpected adventures of a blind man’s umbrella. It passes through the hands of several pedestrians before ultimately illustrating the adage “what goes around, comes around.” No dialogue. 3 min. Written and directed by Aashni Shah.

FEATURE FILM: Ocean of Pearls Starts at 7:00pm
This brilliant first feature from Sarab Neelam, M.D. depicts the universal quest for identity. As a Sikh in North America, Dr. Amrit Singh is of two worlds, but belongs to neither. “To my father, the turban is an article of faith,” says Amrit. “To me, it means I better make damned sure I'm not late for my flight.” When he is offered a prestigious position at a Detroit hospital, the young surgeon sees an opportunity to start fresh, only to discover that his appearance may threaten his success. What happens when our dreams seem to clash with our heritage? Perhaps it is through the collusion of the old ways and the new that we find out who we are.

Write up from the Los Angeles Times: Old-world ways put in jeopardy

There have been many films, serious and comic, about the culture clashes experienced by the young adult children of conservative, tradition-minded immigrants from India and Pakistan who have settled in Western Europe or North America.

Sarab Singh Neelam's intense and distinctive "Ocean of Pearls" is one of the very best and is said to be the first to reveal the special challenges facing Sikhs living in North America. That Neelam was a medical doctor before becoming a filmmaker gives his picture its exceptional impact and complexity.

Omid Abtahi's Amrit Singh is a handsome young Toronto transplant specialist, a visionary who is offered the position of surgeon at a Detroit hospital's new transplant center. Not long after he arrives he discovers that a second surgeon, Ryan Bristol (Todd Babcock), not only has been hired but also has been asked to present Singh's research to a potential donor. The board had decided that Bristol, son of a senator and a member of a powerful family, would be more likely to clinch the substantial donation than a turbaned and bearded Sikh.

Fearing that he is in danger of not being named chief of transplant surgery, Singh contemplates the unimaginable for a Sikh -- cutting off his hair and forsaking his turban.

Neelam raises tough issues of the slippery slope of compromise and probes life-endangering hospital politics and the horrors of U.S. healthcare as seen through the eyes of a Canadian. At the center of the swirl of conflicts engulfing Singh, which also involve the feelings and attitudes of his traditional-minded girlfriend (Navi Rawat) back in Toronto, is his increasingly confused sense of identity.

-- Kevin Thomas "Ocean of Pearls." Rated: PG-13 for brief strong language and thematic elements. Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes.

Spiritual Cinema Circle is the home of entertaining films that inspire love and compassion, and that connect us with the world around us. Now in it's sixth year, Spiritual Cinema Circle is home for a community of conscious filmmakers and film-lovers in more than 80 countries. Spiritual Cinema Circle is proud to have brought the...(more) work of more than 100 exciting, new independent filmmakers to the homes of tens of thousands of people around the world.

Official Website: http://www.TempleofLight.info