tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59213832629723425472024-03-13T10:27:39.455-04:00A Gift for the VillageIn June of 2007, 7 friends left the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia on a trip to Nepal. Our mission was to deliver a painting of an amazing man in a remote village which sits at 12,000 feet in the Himalayas. The film that documents this cultural exchange is now finished, and in the summer of 2010, it was carried back to Nepal and shown there. The film premiered in the US on September 16 at the Taubman Museum in Roanoke before beginning a new journey around the country.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.comBlogger137125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-34413534441717166322012-03-31T15:42:00.000-04:002012-03-31T15:42:19.133-04:00Random photos for the SouthArts tour...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-76952965872779732822012-03-21T07:43:00.004-04:002012-03-21T07:47:47.887-04:00News from Madison, GA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yre239nDGts/T2m_zlsHIBI/AAAAAAAAAJM/WE5vr6nBdnA/s1600/madisonextiesign.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yre239nDGts/T2m_zlsHIBI/AAAAAAAAAJM/WE5vr6nBdnA/s320/madisonextiesign.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722315694562287634" border="0" /></a><br />The film was screened last night at the Madison Morgan Cultural Center in beautiful Madison, GA to an enthusiastic audience, several of whom are friends with OUR friends Tom and Lisa Hammet from Blacksburg, who once lived in Madison. Lisa was the director of the cultural center here.<br /><br />In other news, our great friend and the narrator of the film, Lisa Mullins of WGBH radio in Boston, has been announced as this year's winner of the Gracie Award for excellence as a broadcast anchorperson. <a href="http://www.boston.com/Boston/names/2012/03/lisa-mullins-get-award-wgbh-reduces-her-hours/5BtOmyA3OkKe8LctM2VbvO/index.html">Here's the story that ran in the Boston Globe:</a> way to go, Lisa!Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-80510050261691951392012-03-04T21:35:00.000-05:002012-03-04T21:36:28.550-05:00Screening in Boone, NC - March 7, 2012Thank you to Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, for the great invitation. Jane will be there to speak and screen A Gift for the Village this Wednesday, March 7th, at 7 p.m., in the Lecture Hall of ASU's Turchin Center for the Visual Arts.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-2223389109396818722011-11-20T09:02:00.002-05:002011-11-20T09:11:42.844-05:00Incredible time in the heartland of America - from TomThanks so much to the kind people at Roberts Park United Methodist Church in downtown Indianapolis. Friday, November 11 was a great day to be a local boy returning home. My high school, Lawrence North High, was brave to extend an invitation to talk to students from the theater, journalism, and video production programs there, so I delivered a short talk on my "career" in television and discussed the production of A Gift for the Village. The kids were great, and I admit to getting a little choked up just as I started my talk, and looked up at the crowd of about 200 students in the Little Theater, where I'd done quite a bit of singing and acting as a kid.<br /><br />It was at that high school where I saw my first video camera: a thing so bulky that you had to wheel a cart around with it to contain the giant recorder and all of the electronics needed to make it work, and the arts teachers there taught me a lot of things I still use every day: how to speak extemporaneously, how to work as a part of a team to produce professional quality work, and how to evaluate your own work to continuously improve. I was honored that my best childhood friend John Klasing came to the talk, and he chimed in a few times with good suggestions of stories to share with the kids.<br /><br />Then, that night we showed the film to a group of about 120 people, many of whom were old friends from my childhood church and high school pals and people I'd never met who heard about the show. I was honored that two Tibetans we'd met during my visit to Indy showed up to see the movie: they said that they only knew of 6 Tibetans in the whole city, and I hope they enjoyed seeing familiar scenes on the screen. The projection equipment and screen were provided by the people from the Heartland Film Festival, and the film looked great because of it.<br /><br />Thanks to everyone who came out!<br />T.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-51333303564306920852011-11-03T08:02:00.003-04:002011-11-03T08:09:26.060-04:00Final Chance To See The Jane Lillian Vance GalleryOn Friday, November 4, the gallery in downtown Roanoke that's been home to Jane's work will end the one year run of being open. In the past year hundreds of people have come through to see almost 100 of Jane's paintings on display, but now it's time to close the doors and take this artwork back into the world.<br /><br />If you'd like one last chance to view the paintings and to hear Jane talk about them, come to the gallery at 309 First Street (near the intersection of 1st and Church) this Friday during the monthly Art by Night studio/gallery tour. To read more about the gallery, you can <a href="http://blogs.roanoke.com/arts/2011/01/blacksburg-artist-jillian-vance-to-open-downtown-roanoke-gallery/">see this story about the opening from the Roanoke Times:</a>Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-41811330781168148222011-07-31T08:00:00.001-04:002011-07-31T08:00:42.184-04:00Southern Appalachian International Film FestivalAnd more good news: We just got accepted by the Southern Appalachian International Film Festival in Kingsport, TN -<br />October 26, 2011 to November 04, 2011. We don't know our screening date yet, but would love to see our friends from Abingdon and Bristol find us there!Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-89887783657965485092011-07-28T00:17:00.005-04:002011-07-28T06:20:55.195-04:00From Jane: a newspaper story about the Smithfield ShowFrom the Smithfield Herald, June 26, 2011:<br />Community welcomes artist home<br /><br />About 150 people attended the June 14 showing of A Gift for the Village. The award-winning documentary chronicles Vance's travels to Nepal to deliver her painting of a Tibetan leader and healer.<br /><br />Some 150 people gathered June 14 at Johnston Community College to welcome home artist Jane Lillian Vance.<br />Vance, a Smithfield native who lives in Blacksburg, Va., came to the college to promote her painting exhibit and the award-winning documentary "A Gift for the Village."<br /><br />Created by filmmakers Tom Landon and Jenna Swann, the documentary chronicles the delivery of Vance's painting "Amchi" to a Tibetan <br />village leader in Nepal. The film also serves as a bridge between the cultures of Nepal and the Western world.<br /><br />Vance lived in Smithfield during her high school years, and many community members came out to view the documentary and to see the artist's paintings on display in the Frank Creech Art Gallery.<br /><br />After the film showing and a question-and-answer session, guests observed 25 of Vance's oils on canvas. With vibrant colors and intricate detail, Vance tells stories of life in two communities on opposite sides of the globe.<br /><br />"We are so grateful for this opportunity to showcase Jane Lillian Vance, her magnificent artwork and the fascinating documentary," said David Johnson, JCC president. "The turnout from our community to welcome Jane home was tremendous. Everyone was awestruck by the beauty of the evening."<br /><br />Allison Elsee, a Smithfield native and friend of Vance's, was instrumental in bringing her to the college. She said she was thrilled by the local support for the event. "Jane's message of cultural harmony resonated with her hometown audience, who witnessed firsthand the wisdom that can come from visiting foreign lands and interacting with citizens of the world," Elsee said. "I have been overjoyed by the unanimously positive response from the packed house that attended our event. For Johnston Community College to host such an enriching evening demonstrates its dedication to global awareness."<br /><br />Vance said she was humbled by the outpouring of support from the community that made such a lasting impression on her childhood. "It is so gratifying to be welcomed so graciously by my hometown and acknowledged by such important business and educational leaders," Vance said. "The Frank Creech Art Gallery is a wonderful testament to JCC's commitment to art and cultural education. I am proud to have my paintings hanging at such a beautiful space in my hometown."<br /><br />Vance attended the College of William and Mary, Exeter University in Devon, England, and Virginia Tech. She teaches creative process in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-79243016676216685632011-07-27T08:05:00.005-04:002011-07-27T08:59:06.119-04:00Southern Circuit UpdateAlthough it seems far away now, we are looking forward to screening the film as part of the Southern Circuit of Filmmakers Tour this coming spring. The tour is sponsored by an organization called <a href="http://www.southarts.org/site/c.guIYLaMRJxE/b.4284245/k.7DA2/Film__Media.htm">South Arts</a> based out of Atlanta. <br /><br />The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts. Southern Circuit screenings are funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Special support for Southern Circuit was provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. SouthArts selected 21 films this year and provides support for a filmmaker to travel with 6 other producer/directors to 5 cities in the south. The tours start in the fall and continue throughout the year. We were given a slot in March, and while we are still working out the details, we do know when and where the film will be shown. <br /><br />Here are the dates:<br />March 17: St. Paddy's Day screening in Hapeville, GA (Atlanta suburb)<br />March 20: Madison, GA<br />March 22: South Carolina State U: Orangeburg, SC<br />March 23: Gainesville, GA<br />March 24: Manteo, NC<br /><br />We don't know much about the other films yet, other than their names, but we'll be getting in touch with the other filmmakers as the dates get closer. Here are the other films we'll be traveling with: <br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.abirdoftheair.com/Story/Landing.html">A Bird of the Air</a>: Margaret Whitten. Lyman (Jackson Hurst) is a loner whose job patrolling highways at night, aiding stranded motorists keeps him at a distance from other people. When a rare, highly talkative parrot flies into his home one day, Lyman needs to figure out where the bird comes from and tries to decode its often cryptic utterances. Enlisting the aid of Fiona (Rachel Nichols), an unconventional librarian who is as interested in Lymanʼs secrets as she is in the bird’s, the pair set off on a search that doesn’t always lead them where they think they’re going, but gradually leads them to one another.<br /><br />2. <a href="http://ruthgruberthemovie.com/">Ahead of Time</a>: Zeva Oelbaum. Born in Brooklyn in 1911, Ruth Gruber defied tradition from the moment she became the world’s youngest PhD at the age of 20 in 1931. She went on to become the eyes and conscience of the world as a journalist, photo-journalist and member of the Roosevelt administration. The first journalist to enter the Soviet Arctic in 1935, Ruth traveled to Alaska for the U.S. Dept of Interior in 1942, and was chosen to escort 1000 Holocaust refugees to America in 1944. Ruth turns 100 years old in October 2011 and the film reveals that her trail-blazing spirit and moxie are still inspiring to this day. <br /><br />3. <a href="http://barbershoppunk.com/">Barbershop Punk</a>: Sugimora Archer, Kristin Armfield: Is “The Man” controlling the vertical, the horizontal, and the channel you’ll be on? In a privatized American Internet, is big business “Big Brother” or does the free market protect and serve the needs of the average citizen with its invisible hand? With the simple act of swapping files, barbershop quartet baritone Robb Topolski finds himself at ground zero of a landmark case whose outcome will affect the rights of every American citizen.<br /><br />4. <a href="http://www.whatigot.com/">You Don't Know What I Got</a>: Linda Duvoisin. Life. Love. Passion. Five women lay their heart and soul on the line: singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco, activist/poet Linda Finney, police officer Julie Brunzell, artist/architect Myrtle Stedman and housekeeper Jimmie Woodruff. Through a tapestry of homespun stories, confessions, advice, music and poetry, we discover a cross-section of American women with an extraordinary passion for life.<br /><br />5. <a href="http://www.louderthanabombfilm.com/">Louder Than A Bomb</a>: Greg Jacobs and John Siskel. “Louder Than a Bomb” is a film about passion, competition, teamwork, and trust. It’s about the joy of being young and the pain of growing up. It’s about speaking out, making noise, and finding your voice…it also just happens to be about poetry.<br />If you live nearby or know someone who does, mark your calendars.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-59986952964452564892011-04-10T09:13:00.002-04:002011-07-27T08:59:50.028-04:00The Golden KahunasA Gift for the Village has been awarded a Gold Kahuna Award in the category of feature length documentaries by the Honolulu Film Awards. The award will be presented on May 7 in Waikiki. Unfortunately we won't be there, but send our thanks for the award and regrets that we can't be there to collect it with a fancy drink with an umbrella in hand.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-67183318317780599332011-03-12T09:39:00.003-05:002011-03-12T09:42:56.953-05:00Wow!Since we uploaded the trailer for the film, it has been visited 12,800+ times by people from 75 countries, including Jordan, Iran, India and more. We love it when you watch it and pass on the link to friends.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-32537120526493244442011-03-01T09:27:00.005-05:002011-03-01T09:34:54.034-05:00Now an Award Winning Film!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WfHSCRPljYg/TW0DsARlIzI/AAAAAAAAAFE/_5JYw02Bai0/s1600/GFTVCheck.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 191px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WfHSCRPljYg/TW0DsARlIzI/AAAAAAAAAFE/_5JYw02Bai0/s320/GFTVCheck.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579119567904777010" /></a><br />We are super pleased to be able to say that A Gift for the Village is now an award winning film! At the Virginia Indie Film Festival in Richmond, VA last weekend the film won Best Documentary and People's Choice (documentary) to sweep the awards in our category.<div><br /></div><div>While we're grateful for the prize money which will offset some of our festival travel budget, we're most gratified that an audience who knew nothing about our film and project recognized it as best in show. Thanks to the Virginia Film Office for sponsoring this great event, and to all of the people who came out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon to watch documentaries and short films.</div><div><br /></div><div>On Friday of the same weekend Jenna and Jane traveled to Huntington, WV to be present for a screening of the film at the Appalachian Film Festival, held in a beautifully restored theater there. The audience was most appreciative and the hospitality was grand, though they left soon after the screening to make it to Richmond in time for the other festival on Saturday. All told they drove 19 hours over the weekend.</div>Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-83296409974464954712011-02-17T10:09:00.002-05:002011-02-17T10:11:20.490-05:00A Story from the Roanoke SentinelRoanoke has a small weekly paper called the Sentinel, and they did a story on Jane's gallery opening. While it has a few small factual errors (Tom was never the Director of Education at Blue Ridge PBS, though his boss was) we appreciate the kind coverage.<br /><a href="http://newsroanoke.com/?p=9931">Read the story here.</a>Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-46703766467970431202011-01-26T08:55:00.001-05:002011-01-26T08:55:24.732-05:00Gallery Opening!<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="messageBody">You are all cordially invited to the grand opening of The Jane Lillian Vance Gallery on Thursday, Feb. 3 from 5 - 9 p.m. 309 1st St. (Between Kirk and Church ), Roanoke, VA. Approximately 100 paintings, including several brand new ones.</span></h6>Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-64003321937453028682011-01-17T11:24:00.001-05:002011-01-17T11:26:12.073-05:00Appalachian Film Festival says YES!We just got word that A Gift for the Village will be screened at the Appalachian Film Festival in Huntington, WV the weekend of February 25-26. Our first out of state acceptance!Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-61863360203227896732011-01-16T18:29:00.003-05:002011-01-16T19:18:19.981-05:00Community through filmToday we showed the film to a new group of people in Blacksburg. About 30 folks stayed after the Quaker Meeting at the fine meeting house on Mt. Tabor Road to share the experience of watching the film. Afterward, Jane and I talked over lunch about what it feels like to sit in an audience and watch your work projected in front of others.<br /><br />For me, each time I see the film I find myself criticizing small things in my head - little things that I might like to fix, color I'd like to correct, an audio level that I might want to make a little louder or softer in a few spots. But even more than looking at "mistakes" I catch myself wondering about the hundreds of things that fell into place during the making of the film. My favorite shot? It's either the hummingbird that appears as if on cue to drink from the flowers over Jane's shoulder during her first "interview" appearance in the film, or a low angle shot of goats coming toward the camera while I crouched down in front of them. Or maybe the cloth blowing in the breeze in the door of a monastery, or a shot Jenna got that pans down from the Phadmasambhava cave in Lo that shows just how treacherous the walk was, or the serendipity of capturing a bullseye during the archery scene...<br /><br />But I digress. What I really want to say is that I'm grateful for the chance to watch the film in the company of others. We spent so much time huddled at our computers working on the film that to share it with others is a real treat. To hear people laugh, or gasp, or sob while watching is a rare chance in this life for affirmation that you've done a good job, and I think it will be awhile before we tire of watching this film in the company of friends. In many respects I think THIS film is especially suited to communal viewing. After all, some of its first screenings were projected on monastery walls in the restricted region of Lo, in Upper Mustang in Nepal, followed by intimate screenings at the Kathmandu residence of the American Ambassador to Nepal and an impromptu showing on the side of my brother's house in Vermont the night before his wedding.<br /><br />Now, that said, we have just added a little "buy now" button to the blog, which allows you to purchase a copy of A Gift for the Village using your credit card and having it shipped anywhere in the US. We hope that if you DO elect to own a copy of our film, you'll share it with friends and talk about it after, just as we continue to do in screenings.<br />T.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-25241121265295720102011-01-07T17:23:00.005-05:002011-07-27T09:00:23.313-04:00Virginia Indie Film FestivalWe found out today that A Gift for the Village has been selected to be screened during the Virginia Indie Film Festival at the beautiful and historic <a href="http://www.byrdtheatre.com/">Byrd Theater </a>in Carytown in Richmond. We don't know the exact time yet, but the dates are February 26 and 27, 2011, with our film screening sometime during the afternoon of the 26th. If you are in or near Richmond, we hope you'll come.<br /><br />We'll soon also have news of a show of over 70 paintings by Jane Vance at a gallery space in Roanoke, so stay tuned. The gallery will be open to the public on the evening of February 3, details to follow.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-57556607378630066212010-11-20T13:04:00.003-05:002010-11-20T13:06:13.683-05:00An Essay by Leah WeismanLeah Weisman is one of the students this semester in Jane's class called The Creative Process, and Leah wrote this essay about her teacher.<br /><br /><style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }</style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER">Bridging Cultures: Blacksburg and the Diaspora of Tibet</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER">Leah Weisman</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Jane Vance likes to quote Georgia O’Keeffe. “Fill a space in a beautiful way,” she always says. And she does. Vance is bewitched by detail, and that makes her art, well, bewitching.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Vance is an adjunct professor of The Creative Process at Virginia Tech, among many other activities. She also spends her days working with special needs middle schoolers. So why did a small Nepali village throw this Blacksburg local such an extravagant, two-day celebration?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Her art. For over twenty years, South Asian cultures enchanted Vance. After developing a close relationship with Tsampa Ngawang Lama, a Buddhist monk, and housing him as a guest professor for her class, the lama agreed to have Vance paint his lineage portrait. This <i>Amchi</i> portrait has major significance for Tibetan Buddhists. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Vance is the first female westerner to produce art of this religious worth.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“The painting is a lineage portrait, which means it places an individual in his historical context. It explains how he is an encyclopedic representative of his culture’s traditions,” explained Vance.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It took Vance 10 months to complete the portrait. She scrupulously painted Tsampa Ngawang’s story of his visit to Virginia Tech, and his importance in his own culture in both Tibetan and English. The entire canvas, seven and a half feet tall by six and a half feet wide, is completely covered in vibrant oil paint. With its silk brocade frame, it became 13 and a half by nine and a half feet. Tsampa Ngawang Lama sits cross-legged in the middle, surrounded by prayers, gods, swirls of color, and flowers of both Tibet and Southwest Virginia.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“In all the Tibetan paintings before this one, the flowers were either lotuses or chrysanthemums. But for the first time this hybrid painting shows flowers from our Appalachian woods, from wild bird-on-the-wing to wisteria to apple blossoms, and many garden flowers as well. This was the story of a man making a bridge between his Asian, Himalayan village and our Appalachian village so I bridged with flowers as well as with the story,” Vance said.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In June, 2007, Vance and her team traveled 13,000 miles, riding rickety planes and trekking over a hundred miles through the Himalayas, with the large, fragile portrait. The festival was in western Nepal, in a remote region called Mustang. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“To travel to Tsampa’s village requires 13,000 miles and three flights before the long walk. You travel from jungle to moonscape in the remote western Nepal,” said Vance.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A Gift for the Village, a documentary about Vance’s journey to Nepal to deliver the artwork, hopes to bring awareness to the United States about the difficult situation Tibetans have been in since the 1950’s.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For thousands of years, Tibet was peopled with peace-loving Buddhists. High up in the Himalayas, this country was untouched by other cultures for a very long time. In 1950, after the Communist revolution, China invaded Tibet. Worshipping peace, war was not a language the Tibetans understood, and they crumpled under the unrelenting People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Since then, Tibetans have been persecuted and tortured. The Dalai Lama, the religious and political leader of Tibet, hasn’t been able to return safely to his own land since 1959.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Millions of Tibetans have died because of the Chinese invasion. Tens of thousands of others live outside the borders of their homeland. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“Tibetans have been called the most successful exiles in the world. They maintain their traditions of wisdom and compassion. His Holiness often reminds us that the hope for Tibet is really the responsibility of the free peoples of this world. The first step westerners can take is to learn the history of Tibet.”</p>Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-9712021776610451782010-11-05T07:59:00.003-04:002010-11-05T08:02:54.424-04:00Jane on the radio!As we prepare to head off to the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville this weekend, we're happy to post a link to Jane's recent interview on 101.5 The Music Place in Roanoke, which originally aired last weekend.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.1015themusicplace.com/rvc/rvc-october-2010-episodes.html">Link to the interview</a><br /><br />If you have trouble with the link -- go to the main page of the 1015themusicplace.com website -- a link to the show appears on the bottom left column. The list of all October Shows is under the photo of Bruce with the megaphone....so scroll down a bit and you'll see us.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-19433294616984597792010-10-21T11:13:00.009-04:002010-11-05T08:10:36.617-04:00Jane's comments at the University of Virginia regarding Morgan HarringtonMy name is Jane Lillian Vance.<br /><br />On behalf of my film team, let me express our thanks to the University of Virginia, in particular to Pat Lampkin, who reached out to us while we were still in Kathmandu this past summer.<br /><br />Pat; Dan, Gil, and Alex; my film team; my own two children Iris and Emerson who are both here at UVa, David; and assembled guests: thank you all for being here today.<br /><br />I am here, because of my fortune to have been Morgan Harrington's teacher.<br /><br />I taught Morgan a course offered through Virginia Tech's Department of Religion and Culture, called The Creative Process.<br /><br />In my course, I suggest to my students that love and loss are the two tributaries of the creative impulse--that cherishing causes the sensual hieroglyphics of generosity, and that grieving causes the agonized braille of memorial.<br /><br />Morgan, who was expressive, conceptual, artistic--brilliant--sat with perfect front-row posture before these ideas.<br /><br />Allow me to share with you a little about this young woman, who is being honored today, from when she was my student.<br /><br />In The Creative Process, after reading Gita Mehta's A River Sutra, Morgan wrote about the psychological clash of old village India and cyberspace. She concluded that, especially if you view your life as a pilgrimage, it is poisonous to repudiate your past. She loved, instead, Walt Whitman's idea of synthesis: Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am large--I contain multitudes.<br /><br />Morgan collaged for me about the national bruise inflicted by Hurricane Katrina and about New Orleans' brave, creative community responses to its unprecedented damage. She relished Truman Capote's vignettes in Music for Chameleons, and loved Capote's designation of fireworks--and conversation--as his favorite art forms. She sparked when I said there doesn't need to be much difference between the two.<br /><br />In my course, Morgan read a book called The Voice That Remembers, written by a Tibetan woman who endured nearly three decades of degradation and torture in labor camps. Morgan learned why His Holiness the Dalai Lama believes that Tibetan Buddhism is so relevant to the West, as a spiritual technology, not a religion; a technology of mind, compatible with any faith, or any culture.<br /><br />Morgan designed a Tibetan-style shrine to enfold her own core values and nascent aspirations. Allow me to quote from Morgan's accompanying essay: she wrote--<br /><br />"One of the central objects of my shrine is a huge, comfy chair that my Dad sits in every night to finish his work from the office. All throughout my youth I would jump up on his lap to share this chair, and nudge his pile of never-ending work aside with grass-stained toes. He would never shove me off and continue work, as some adults might have done. Instead, he always took the extra minutes to cuddle, and show that he loved me, despite all of his expectations at work.<br /><br />" I balanced an incense burner near the bottom of my shrine to symbolize spirituality and larger than life ideals that I struggle to accept. My maternal grandparents helped shape who I am because they raised the most important person in my life, my mother--a lock of her strawberry blonde hair is nestled into the deep center of my [imagined] shrine as the relic because I love<br />her so much and strive to be more like her. I look to my mom as a spiritual example because she is so open-minded. She is a very spiritual person and I see how this trust enriches her life, so I plan to spend more time exploring higher powers and positive energies instead of focusing on things that are insignificant in comparison. It is easy to get in a monotonous routine and<br />forget about the changes that I need to make in my life. With these objects places on my shrine, I have a higher likelihood of succeeding in these changes because the reminders will be ever-present."<br /><br />As it happens, Morgan appears, breifly, three times in the film you are about to see. We did not edit her in. She was simply there, in our story, standing right beside Amchi Tsampa, the subject of our film when he visited our Virginia Tech Creative Process class during my semester with Morgan. And again, there was Morgan, at my home, with her classmates, as Jenna Swann filmed. You will see Morgan there for a moment, on my living room floor. She is the student who<br />is smiling.<br /><br />Morgan would have traveled with my film team and me this past summer for the world premiere of our film in Nepal. She wanted to go trek to meet the people with the fierce and gentle spiritual technology we studied. She told me that she wanted this experience because she was going to become a teacher.<br /><br />I hope you enjoy our documentary. Morgan saw parts of it in early drafts. Our co-producers Jenna Swann and Tom Landon have edited for years to bring you this story.<br /><br />And now it is my privilege to present our narrator, Lisa Mullins, whose incredible voice most of you know from her brilliant Public Radio International work. Lisa, will you please do us the honor of presenting A Gift for the Village, which is dedicated--from my heart--to my front-row girl, my teacher, Morgan Harrington.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-89499365750314945112010-09-22T10:20:00.002-04:002010-09-22T10:24:45.638-04:00Thank you, Thank you, Thank youThanks to everyone who came out on September 16 for the premiere at the Taubman. Words can't really express how wonderful it was to see the film on the big screen in that beautiful auditorium, but more amazing were the shining faces of so many people who have helped this project come to fruition.<br /><br />The list of people to thank is too long and fraught with the possibility of leaving someone off of it, but thanks to Heather Anderson and the Taubman, to Stephanie Koehler for helping in every way, to Andrew and Tammy for manning the merchandise table, to Ella and Mary and Will for being most excellent ticket takers, to Beth and Reba for handling the tickets, to the security guard who pointed everyone in the right direction, to John and Bruce for taking pictures, to Ron Rordam who read the comments of the American Ambassador at the reception, to Gil Harrington for bringing 20 people to see the film, to our families for making the journey to see the film, the list could go on and on and on.<br /><br />We hope that those of you who were unable to make it might be able to come to one of our upcoming screenings. <br />T.Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-44909137899542157392010-09-01T18:41:00.011-04:002010-09-08T14:55:00.198-04:00About Things Receding and Not Receding, September 1, from JaneHi Friends, Ten years ago this autumn, Jenna and I were preparing to travel to India and Nepal together. It was an exciting time. Just before we left, Jenna won The McGlothlin Award for Teaching Excellence. We gave a presentation at Price's Fork Elementary School about the camels and fortress cities of Rajasthan, India, and about the remote Himalayas of western Nepal--places Jenna was going to experience for the first time. We promised to send post cards, write blogs when we found working computers, and take photographs. We both kept more personal journals, too, which we collaged and illustrated. I wanted to have a record for my own two children to describe what drew their Mom to such far-flung places--and not just to ANY far-flung places. South Asia had a strong pull, a calling. And although it was a relatively new tool for her, just before we left, Jenna also packed a videocamera.<br /><br />I have titled my blog entry here to allude to my friend Suzi Gablik's most recent blog entry on her site, www.virgilspeaks.blogspot.com, which she has titled, About Things Standing and Not Standing. Take a look: all in the same collaged stew, Suzi collects the grand old chestnut tree out Anne Frank's window (which recently fell to fungal disease), an eerie-spooky broom that likes to stand upright on its own in the middle of a haunted boiler room (you'll see), Sarah Palin, Martin Luther King, Jr., Glenn Beck, President Obama, and the American (or human?) assumption that better times are ahead.<br /><br />Autumn (or April, the cruelest month, or When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd--writers face Suzi's question about what stands and what does not stand in every season) is certainly one natural time to see the evergreen and the deciduous, the perennial and the annual, the possible and the lost, the hibernating and the dead.<br /><br />Along with my friend Jenna, in this decade, I saw Amchi Tsampa, the extraordinary man whose lineage painting I was to make, come to <br />America for the first time. I saw him see September 11th happen on American television. I have seen the only existing photographs of the Dalai Lama's entire family--when he was just a little guy, before he was officially revealed as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama, more than seventy years ago--published for the first time--from a long-lost roll of film I found in Sedona, Arizona. I have walked incredibly difficult miles at extreme altitudes to have a conversation with an old King. I have seen many of the best treasures of what remains of old Tibet. I have been as rich as a human can be with love and friendship. My daughter Iris is in her third year of medical school at UVa. Five years ago this week she spent one semester at Virginia Tech, here with me, as her Tulane University spluttered and gasped to reopen after Hurricane Katrina drowned and broke people, pets, and property. My son Emerson is in his first semester of UVa's law school. He spent July with our film team and with me, in Nepal, revisiting the shrines, rickshaws, gardens, and mountains of his childhood. My children have supported A Gift for the Village at every stage of our work. And like everyone who reads this paragraph, I have also suffered. I have been afraid. I have seen some beautiful things recede.<br /><br />But this month, let the red fireflies of the Annapurna Himalayan night skies, and the purple, gold, and green of Mardi Gras, and the chartreuse and magenta and mango of the carved flowers and candles on Suzi Gablik's dining room table, and the pink of my Strawberry Buddha painting, and the curries-burgundies-bluegreys & shell whites of the rock-silt pigment we collected this summer in Upper Mustang--let ALL the colors in this world know that our film is completed; Jenna Swann and Tom Landon and I have not missed ONE of them in A Gift for the Village. Every color stands. <br /><br />My film team is so incredible. Thank you, Jenna. Thank you, Tom. Thank you, Lisa Mullins, for letting your absolutely gorgeous voice bring our script to life. Thank you, Ambassador and Mrs. DeLisi for celebrating our work in Nepal. Thank you, Gil and Dan Harrington, for allowing me to carry Morgan's ashes to sacred places. <br /><br />Thanks to all of you who continue to express interest in our work, and who will be joining us on the evening of September 16th at The Taubman Museum in Roanoke, for the American Premiere of our documentary, A Gift for the Village. Ten years fit into one hour! So please, no blinking allowed.<br /><br />I look forward to speaking about our work six days before the Premiere, at noon, on Friday, September 10th, in the Taubman Museum, as part of their Box Lunch series. Please join me there.<br /><br />So much will never recede. So much does stand. JaneTom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-68727376077546283782010-08-09T05:19:00.004-04:002010-08-11T05:54:04.014-04:00Wild Pre-Dawn Parties, from Jane, August 9thHi Friends, Not one of our bodies has caught up to Eastern Standard Time. No wonder. We hurtle at 36,000 feet for 15 hours over Russia, and then Poland, and finally Greenland, and Canada, and then cross into American air space, and stagger into a line of New Jersey Customs Officers at 4:30 a.m., who ask, Have you been on a farm? No, I answer, but my mind thinks, The whole of western Nepal is a farm, and the luckier parts of the Kathmandu Valley as well, though Sushma Joshi is right that the Valley's rivers are choking on plastic. I have been within spitting distance of yaks and monkeys, water buffalo and black cobras, rabid dogs and yarchen gonpo (the fabled summer grass/winter worm--or is it the other way around?--the seemingly dual plant/animal that Tibetans drop into their moonshine). <br /><br />Next question: Was I there, in Nepal, on business? No, I answer again, but if you want to talk about spiritual profits, then yes. Am I carrying any food into the country? I 'fess up. Yes, I stammer, and unzip my luggage to show my plastic-sealed Haldiram's bhujia. "That's okay," he concedes, but he misses by thousands of miles. A bag of bhujia is the life of my pre-dawn parties since I've been back. Awake at 4 a.m.? No problem. Put on the kettle to make my first cups of Darjeeling tea, and unzip the bhujia. It's called Indian and Nepali junk food, but please: its crunchy vermicelli-tiny bits of chick pea flour squiggle, with salt and chili powder. If Paul Simon had traveled to Nepal, he would have written the song about Bhujia instead of Kodachrome. Same tune, and same refrain: Please don't take my bhujia away. Bhujia is what Jenna and I took to the Ambassador and his wife when we went for dinner on our final night in Nepal. Jenna defended our choice as we handed over a giant bag of bhujia. "No," the Ambassador intervened. "This stuff is great."<br /><br />So now (this is my wild pre-dawn party) I sit in a house full of cats and paintings and objects collected since my first travels to south Asia in 1985. I walk around the yard (even before it is light outside--I want to hear the shy wood thrushes). Tall phlox is the flower of the week, taller than I am, with clusters of Pepto Bismol pink and lavender-pink blossoms that look spectacular against my turquoise house. Their perfume is like a sweet black pepper, especially in the dark.<br /><br />On my lap is Mary, my oldest cat, who lived through a horrible injury just before I traveled in June, and who had to have stints and antibiotics while I was away. Only because my friends Jessica and Barbara Vance and Marlene Benson, who care for the cats while I am away--only because these women have absolute compassion for life--could my old friend Mary live for us to sit together again. Mary is not going to live long--she is skeletal. But her face and her eyes are bright. And she is purring.<br /><br />I have just turned the calendar page to August. I have a great Frida Kahlo calendar, and this month, the painting is one of her zigzag cut watermelons, into one of whose drenched pink insides is written, Viva la vida. Long live life. <br /><br />That's the motto for my wild pre-dawn parties from now on. Whenever I may have the chance again to travel and return, to be charged as I am now with the warp of circumscribing the planet, whenever, from now on, I feel home and far from home, Frida's invocation will be my banner. Long live life. And let's toast also (lift your cup of Darjeeling with mine) to what Buddha said: As you walk and eat and travel, be wherever you are; otherwise, you will miss most of your own life.<br /><br />We DO miss Nepal already. Scott and Leija DeLisi, our new friends--what an inspiring last evening with you. We miss you. And all of our old friends, weeping with us at the airport, we miss you.<br /><br />But let's see what new happinesses we can grow here, now, like a crop: what new paintings, and what other new reasons for wild pre-dawn parties like mine today, right now. Here are the seeds and the supplies I have: my family, my friends, my animals, my gardens, my woods, my students, my paintings, and one more unsiezed bag of bhujia. Viva la vida. JaneTom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-65284451990621033092010-08-07T05:33:00.000-04:002010-08-07T05:38:17.528-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0pdghKMDI/AAAAAAAAAEg/XjYgydaQkBc/s1600/41.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0pdghKMDI/AAAAAAAAAEg/XjYgydaQkBc/s320/41.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502599906638573618" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0pdGOvUCI/AAAAAAAAAEY/pPRolrk-3ng/s1600/46.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0pdGOvUCI/AAAAAAAAAEY/pPRolrk-3ng/s320/46.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502599899581992994" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0pcj3oTDI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/eu0PKbRyYJw/s1600/21.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0pcj3oTDI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/eu0PKbRyYJw/s320/21.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502599890358258738" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0pcDSlSSI/AAAAAAAAAEI/qEywNT3VOE0/s1600/10.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0pcDSlSSI/AAAAAAAAAEI/qEywNT3VOE0/s320/10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502599881612937506" /></a>Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-86294085153961555702010-08-07T05:22:00.003-04:002010-08-07T05:31:15.029-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0mpFkUxzI/AAAAAAAAAEA/6-kTkYEgRqU/s1600/50.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0mpFkUxzI/AAAAAAAAAEA/6-kTkYEgRqU/s320/50.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502596807027640114" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0mosut63I/AAAAAAAAAD4/6zJ-0AVXxa4/s1600/33.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0mosut63I/AAAAAAAAAD4/6zJ-0AVXxa4/s320/33.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502596800360344434" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0moGj9PKI/AAAAAAAAADw/6B_Lq8a7fA8/s1600/31.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0moGj9PKI/AAAAAAAAADw/6B_Lq8a7fA8/s320/31.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502596790114663586" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0mntYBIAI/AAAAAAAAADo/yeo25pKpmo8/s1600/30.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0mntYBIAI/AAAAAAAAADo/yeo25pKpmo8/s320/30.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502596783353700354" /></a>Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921383262972342547.post-55207248499392927012010-08-07T05:15:00.001-04:002010-08-07T05:19:36.049-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0kzxPrAuI/AAAAAAAAADg/MerDtupdn8o/s1600/58.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0kzxPrAuI/AAAAAAAAADg/MerDtupdn8o/s320/58.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502594791527613154" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0kzd1mBLI/AAAAAAAAADY/n4Lchh4sHd8/s1600/20.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0kzd1mBLI/AAAAAAAAADY/n4Lchh4sHd8/s320/20.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502594786317960370" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0ky2nmWYI/AAAAAAAAADQ/gjWMA8Jzds8/s1600/15.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t702YTzGfI/TF0ky2nmWYI/AAAAAAAAADQ/gjWMA8Jzds8/s320/15.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502594775790279042" /></a>Tom Landonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14976595652570707964noreply@blogger.com0