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"I cannot get this movie out of my mind. Watching it made me realize how meaningless life can be if we do not live it passionately." Penelope Spheeris (Director of Wayne's World) VARIETY "Naked in Ashes" is a respectful, illuminating appreciation of a few of the estimated 13 million yogis in India. Full Article Los Angeles Times Paula Fouce's beautiful, illuminating documentary "Naked in Ashes" takes the viewer into the profoundly spiritual world of India's yogis, who see their taking on the sins of humanity as a source of healing and redemption for others. Full Article The Village VOICE Imagine Burning Man happening in India, and a Los Angeles filmmaker, a practicing Buddhist, documenting the festival, and you'll grasp the flavor of Naked in Ashes. Full Article E-Online Holy Shiva! Thirteen million yogis taking a bath together sounds like a messy proposition. Full Article The Desert Sun "LIVING FOR GANESH" Living in the presence of Mother Ganges is heaven for the holy men of India Full Article Yoga Journal "One day we will die and merge with the earth, with Mother Ganges. Why wait until death?" So asks one of India's holy men.... Full Article Las Vegas Review Journal Watching these yogis pursue their faith with such devotion -- especially in a world preoccupied with temporal pursuits -- can't help but provide inspiration. Full Article Denver Post "NAKED IN ASHES does so much of what we want from documentary -it teaches us new ways that lives can be lived. And religion or no, that always expands the spirit." Full Article San Francisco Bay Guardian Even in a nation of 1 billion, 13 million is a pretty respectable minority and that is the estimated number of yogis currently traveling a 5,000year-old spiritual path in India. Paula Fouce's documentary trains its somewhat loose yet engaging focus on about twenty individuals around the nation. Full Article San Francisco Chronicle The clash of ancient traditions and modern civilization is at the center of "Naked in Ashes," an inspirational and cautionaty film that documents the hermetic lives of a handful of Indian yogis. Full Article

New York Post The yogis in the documentary "Naked in Ashes" have never played for the Yankees. Vision Magazine The film focuses on and honors an eccentric community of some 15 million Yogis residing amongst India’s estimated population of one billion. Naked in Ashes is created with honest simplicity, offering a palpable and captivating experience of the eastern Yogi. Full Article San Diego CITYBEAT Maintaining a biweekly practice of Bikram’s Hot Yoga might make you think you’re a hardcore yogi, but when was the last time you towed a truck with your penis? Huh? When? Full Article North County Times The spiritual quest of the yogi in India is certainly no easy path, as we see in the often riveting documentary "Naked in Ashes." The hard work and dedication is the point, of course. Full Article Traditional Yoga Studies Interactive Naked in Ashes offers a colorful and nonjudgmental glimpse into India’s ascetical branch of spirituality. Full Article Yogi Times You become a voyeur into the lives of Indian Yogis, getting a raw, candid observation of their daily activities, soaking up their wisdom, and watching them prepare for their pilgrimage. Full Article Kripalu Online Travel into the lives of the ascetic yogis of India. The film includes fantastic footage from the KumbhaMela festival. Full Article Awareness Magazine An award-winning team of filmmakers came together to produce NAKED IN ASHES. This documentary film serves up a slice of life — the ascetics of the Hima-layas — who walk away from everything worldly in their quest for the Divine. Beautifully shot on location throughout India. The Gainesville Sun In autumn, the movies get down to serious business. Full Article CalendarLive The idea: A 14-year-old Indian boy enters into the spiritual life of a yogi, devoting himself to chastity, austerity and utter devotion. So? Motivated deprivation. Full Article DesiTalk Created by a team of filmmakers in Los Angeles, 'Naked in Ashes' a 108minute feature documentary that depicts a fascinating and palpable experience of the yogis in India... Indulge Magazine A compelling documentary on the sometimes death-defying but always uplifting lives of India's yogis is the essential art house ticket this month. Full Article Spirituality and Practice

An edifying look at the lives and spiritual practices of twenty Hindu holy men in India who meditate, serve others and take on austerities as part of their path. Full Article Viewers at Metacritic.com Viewers rated Naked In Ashes 9.5 out of 10 - Read what they had to say about this feature doc film: joe s. gave it a10: This is a real beauty! The scenes alone make this documentary worth the price, but then the story is just as compelling. It engages the mind with all sorts of wonderment. Full Article

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About the Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Naked In Ashes accompanies the unique story of the search for enlightenment by various yogis of India as told by film director Paula Fouce. In keeping with the spirit of the quest, composers Tony Humecke and Stephen Day have created music that takes you on a journey that simultaneously excites and soothes, marches and soars, and inspires and awakens. Indian classical, Western classical, world percussion, and more combine to create a sound that calls to the spirit. This dynamic disc is packed with performances, compositions and recordings by musicians from Bombay, London and L.A. and features such well known musicians as bassist John Leftwich (Riki Lee Jones, Lyle Lovett), guitarist Ant Glynn (Rick Wakeman, Asia, Mike Oldfield), AnandMurdeshwar (Indian Flute) and members of the London Symphony. Tony Humecke contributes percussion, bowls, and various sampled instruments while Stephen Day contributes sarod and guitars. Katharina Day's violin can be heard on numerous tracks.

Transformation
by Steven Day Why do we do the things we do? Why do we go out of our way to look for something we can’t prove exists? What is it about the human condition that makes us seek and what is it we are seeking? When I reflect upon these questions and upon my life I think that what has been crucial has been transformation. Not just regular everyday transformation however, but the kind that grips you, shakes you, and turns your life upside down until you are exhausted inside and out yet restless for the pursuit of more of the same. What kind of person would seek this kind of tumult in their lives? What kind of soul would choose the road less traveled at the risk of discomfort and peril? I was looking for this kind of transformation from a young age. When I was four, I recall rays of consciousness beaming through with the garden sunlight leading me to wonder about the age old question ‘who am I?’ Much later, in college, with ever increasing angst and a sense of desperation, I traveled and read philosophy of every kind. Just when I reached the end of my rope, I attended a Sahaja Yoga meeting and experienced a breakthrough, a quantitative leap in what I was able to perceive and understand. I was told that this was the enlightenment or self-realization that I had read about. Everything seemed clearer and brighter as if the clouds had parted and the sun was shining through again just as it was when I was 4, only now the light illumined a wider path with a greater array of possibilities. Thus began my journey within. In the years that followed, I lived in ashrams, meditated daily, took lessons in tabla and sitar and visited India many times. Each day and each year was a step in opening awareness of the nature of my inner

being through vibrational awareness. Though I was able to appreciate the subtle form of expression that Indian culture facilitated my initial forays into spiritual consciousness were like a toe dipping dabble into a puddle or small pool. They served to get my feet wet but ultimately didn’t take me deep enough to enjoy the real adventure that was yet to come. In the summer of 1997, the spiritual leader and founder of Sahaja Yoga, ShriMatajiNirmala Devi, suggested that I study music in India and invited me there. I dove in and attended the P.K. Salve Academy of Music to learn sarod for a year. She then suggested that I study with world-renowned sarodistUstadAmjad Ali Khan. He accepted, I obtained an ICCR scholarship and began my second year living in India. I found Khan Sahib to be deeply spiritual in his approach to all aspects of his music. He, like other great Indian classical musicians, believes that one reaches higher and higher levels of understanding God through subtler and subtler levels of musical expression. The search for the Divine is akin to the yogic quest for Truth. The ascetic penances of the musician are years and years of practice (called riyaz) and the goal is perfect sound. As a teacher and guru ‘Ustadji’ (an Urdu term of respect meaning Master) was strict but patient. He asked me to practice basic scales to perfection before moving onto ragas and more sophisticated forms of expression. He also encouraged me to keep growing as a person, pointing out that good music is an extension of a good life. In India, I thus learned, not only music, but very subtle protocols of an ancient culture. In so doing, I found a way to, not only challenge, but also change, some of the ways I had been conditioned to approach life while growing up in the West. This was the key to my transformation and it would allow me to launch back into the western world with a completely different outlook on everything I was to experience. By the time I reached my fourth year in India, I was feeling the joy of my inner depth and true character in every moment of my life. A dream of lifetimes had been fulfilled within. Now it needed to be brought to the outside and shared. Fortunately, I had music as a vehicle of expressing the profundity of what I had discovered. I traveled and toured, giving concerts around the world for people of diverse backgrounds. I believe they came to my concerts and listened to my music because they were interested in feeling, or being part, of that discovery, a spiritual journey through music, through which they could find and reflect upon the riches of their soul and inner being. I was eventually to bring this discovery into the recording studio. The global music firm Boosey and Hawkes, based in London, contracted me to work with their composers and engineers on two albums of music for film and television. With the work from these albums complete, I brought my music and story to America where I have lived since 2002. Since I moved to America, I have been fortunate to work with filmmakers like Paula Fouce and composers like Tony Humecke, who are sensitive to the more subtle spiritual frequencies in life and work to bring them out in their art. In an age where thousands of people in this country and the world are searching for deeper meaning and a subtler path, the soundtrack for Naked in Ashes is very timely. Not only does it combine Indian Classical music with western music in innovative and new ways, it takes part in the age-old tradition and universal principle of seeking. This seeking has been the unifying principle that threads through the various adventures in my life and it is what led me to the transformation that I underwent to be able to perceive reality in an entirely new and different way. Though the path of seeker can be arduous and sometimes lonely, discovering the transformatory power within us has become easier than ever before. With the outside world driving us to question ourselves, it is imperative, more than ever, to look to the power within us for strength in finding solutions to the problems that we face. We may, in the process, not only be able to gain insight into answers to a few of those age old questions but transform into a different kind of human being able to better cope with the challenges of a new age.

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Naked In Ashes - The Making of
by William Haugse, A.C.E.

India So much happens in India, more so even than New York or Rome, or Rio; from the moment you first breathe the air, you’re swimming in new sensations, events, people, an unimaginably intense mix of new thoughts. And you are definitely not walking along the bottom of the pool, you’re in over your head. A few stories... I arrived in New Delhi a day after the others in the film team, because the Indian consulate in San Francisco had had some sort of difficulty processing my visa. So I experienced the New Delhi airport alone, the sea of three-wheel cabs arguing passionately for the next fare but trying not to let the tourists see their ferocity. The driver whose turn it was to take me was big and stern and had to fight back a challenge from one of the other drivers; after that I thought we probably wouldn’t chat at all. But just a few conversational probes later he was opening up in very comprehensible English. By the time we reached the hotel, I knew his family history, where he lived, and how much he made each year hacking. It was my first exercise in trust: whether to believe him – he was so friendly and smart, and he gave me very exact directions how to reach him if I wanted a taste of village life – or whether I should be skeptical, whether he was manipulating me, the economic figures he gave seemed so ridiculously low I didn’t see how he could possibly be telling the truth. I had another day before connecting with my friends, so I took another cab ride, this driver was more taciturn, to a site I had seen in one of Paula’s other films, a Mosque with a brilliant Sufi background famous for religious toleration and cultural beauty. The driver was very shocked when I gave him the address, “Are you sure, Sir?” This set up a tinge of fear, of course, but I persisted. He said he would wait for me at the entrance; the byways of Old Delhi are far too narrow even for a three wheel cab. We had been informed in advance of the possibility of anti-American sentiment in country and I had even thought of using the word “Canada” when asked about my origin. Walking up those winding streets I saw fewer and fewer Westerners, every male head with a white hat, and very few females. After half an hour of this the fear, planted earlier, blossomed. I wasn’t even sure I could find the mosque, never mind find my way back. And the daylight was waning. When I realized I was the ONLY guy without a white cap, I also started to realize how many of the faces were cautiously looking at me, some even glaring, or so I thought in my increasingly paranoid fantasy. Before losing myself in that labyrinth I turned around and scuttled back to my driver, still waiting by the gate. He insisted that I visit another site, a great 16th C. tomb, where I had my second encounter with Muslim custom. The grave was a magnificent ruin, with nobody else around, other than a rag-tag guy with his hand out, insisting that he was officially authorized to give me a tour, and that the tour was required. I walked up on a fantastic structure shaped like a band shell for a closer look, and heard a woman’s voice, “Sir! SIR!”A woman in a bright green sari, with two children, approaching me in quite a hurry. She didn’t speak English beyond “Sir,” but her gestures made it clear: “You must take off your shoes in

this holy place!” So I finally understood why Paula had insisted that we come with shoes that were VERY easy to slip on and off, over and over. I was quite careful after that, it turns out that all of the deities in India, and there are so many!, prefer to be approached with bare feet. A few more stories We journeyed to Ujjain, the site of the festival we were to photograph, by plane, van and bus, along with hundreds of thousands of Yogis, who were encamped along the river with – they said it and I believed it – a million, maybe several million pilgrims! I couldn’t stop saying how happy I was, just being in India after hearing so much about it for all those years, a whole civilization focused on devotion and spiritual attainment! I was prepared to find fault, to discern hypocrisy, after all as a Westerner that’s my habit, but really, there is so much goodness everywhere present, so much spiritual joy, that it was impossible for me not to believe in the thrust of the thing, the spiritual meaning of these people’s lives. I was glad I had come with the job of photographing the wild intensity of the KhumbaMela; I realized at one point I could rely on my camera to funnel the experience down to a more manageable size. To turn a mountain of chanting devotees, blazing with color and throbbing with trance-inducing sound, down to a thumbprint in the viewfinder. This led to one of my more humiliating – and yet in the end, quite interesting – experiences. On the second morning at the festival, I was standing with the digital video camera to my eye, taking images of a phenomenal street scene, a parade of elephants, acrobats and saints, drummers in bright costumes, scores of naked yogis, magicians, donkeys pulling carts, monks with hair in plaits just touching the ground, vendors of holy things –I would become accustomed to such pageantry with time, or at least less to need the glass wall of my camera shielding me. Finally, I took the camera from my eye, with some sort of comment “Paula! Look –“ But she was gone. Chris was gone. Our translator was gone. Everyone was gone except the unrelenting ring of little boys staring at me and calling out their requests. There were also about 100,000 other people, conducting the ecstatic and urgent business of a religious festival in India. I looked for our crew for an hour and a half, trying to figure out how we had gotten separated. I didn’t then know how urgently they had been tracking down Sri Raj Giri, the principle subject of our film. They had found him right there in the fair, when I was with all my concentration cranking out video images, and they ran after him like devotees after a master! It turns out that filmmakers have devotional intensity nearly as great as the children of Shiva. This was in the morning – because of 120 degree midday heat we, and everybody else, worked early in the morning and very late in the afternoon, lunching and swooning at our camp in between. My real adventure began a few hours later at a booth which identified itself bi-lingually as a police sub-station in the fair. Although they could give me no official help, partly because I could not make myself understood, an off duty officer volunteered to try to find “Sita Camp” (all I could remember of the name of our hostel). So there followed four hours on the passenger seat of a surprisingly sleek motorcycle with a very kind and calm off-duty police officer who could not speak a word of English. There had been warnings about sunstroke, and I had not worn my sunhat that morning. But during our day in the sun bumping over the rutted dirt roads of Ujjain and the colossal temporary tent city which springs up around it for very special festivals, there were many encounters: the English yogi with dreds to the ground talking about his 20 years as a holy man in India, and the families and the children and the huge palette of human drama which colors any really big gathering. The cobra being removed from a temple-tent by a snake man, reminding me to zip my tent door all the way around, and so many more over the course of the day, ending with a brief sojourn in a hotel in town, I finally thought I had to have a nap. The off duty officer dropped me off and the hotel manager, who had his own motorbike, had heard of our tent encampment “Sita Camp” so I got back in time for a few leftovers from dinner. It was never really frightening but the experience of being totally lost for ten hours in middle of a gigantic religious festival in a remote Indian capital is memorable, let’s just leave it at that. Sita Camp. A camp put together especially for the festival for tourists and upper class Indians. Right on the holy river, the Shipra, where the holy bath was soon to take place.All along the river, other encampments, for all classes of Indian society, and all religious sects.All manner of devotees and gurus. I know this because they could be heard chanting. Chanting all the time, and this is not a colorful exaggeration. “Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Sita Ram” and so on, with quite a lovely melody, choral and accompanied by the lapping of the river. But ALL of the time. Lucky for us Paula brought ear plugs or we wouldn’t have been able to sleep a wink; the supply of chanters for the glory of Ram is apparently inexhaustible. Religious, spiritual, orthodox I have the feeling I’m not alone in saying that while I have an abiding interest in Asian religion, I am not exactly a devotee. It’s taken me quite some bother to get myself free of the dogmas of western religion and I’m wary of the dogmas of another. But there is an allure, there is the whisper of hope there, in the stories and imagery and practice of the religions of Asia, of India in particular. So when the festival came about, we put our glass shields in front of our faces again, to shield us from the bright light of all this devotion. We had moved to another guru’s encampment, right down by the water, right where the yogis were expected to enter the water at exactly the appointed hour. The exact hour which, by the way, is not revealed until the very last minute, literally, by the astrologers who presumably are taking into account the minutest variations in the whims of the planets. So we came to the river before dawn, just to be ready. And waited, and waited. The government of Ujjain had put up a sort of raft midway across the river for the benefit of camera people from all over the world. It is, after all, something to see, and quite a few glass eyes were trained on the event. Chris went out on the raft but I was skeptical. I was also skeptical about

crossing to the other side. One gets there by crossing an underwater bridge, made of stone, box shaped and long, maybe six feet wide. It goes all the way across the river, maybe a hundred yards, and the entire bridge is under the surface of the water, maybe three feet under. If you are inebriated, in other words, you must not attempt to cross the River Shipra on this bridge. And if you have in your hands a digital video camera worth thousands of dollars, you must be extra careful. Finally, a person from our Ashram (the second encampment actually had a real guru so it’s called an Ashram) told me that nothing would happen on the near side, that I would have to get either out to the raft or take the bridge to the other side of the river to see anything at all. India continually puts you in this sort of circumstance, situations which mirror the challenges and beauties and obstacles of life itself, the hope the fear etc. So. I decided I could not stay on this side of the holy water. I wade out into it, despite the fact that we’ve been told that if the water has even been NEAR the lettuce we are not to eat it, and despite my experience in another country in which I was told not even to TOUCH the water, despite all this, it was necessary to wade out into the water, to step onto the submerged stone bridge in my easily removable rubber and fabric slip-ons (the Yogi’s frown on the use of leather). I stopped halfway across, to visit Chris on the raft. His position was considered the supreme position and all the main international photogs were there as well, but I thought I’d go on across, get another angle, in the midst, so to speak of the action. It was an unexpected, unrepeatable experience, standing on that bank, watching tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, of naked Yogis, hair to the floor, some in the most exotic colors, come down the ramp to the stone faced river bank, each in their own Akara, carrying banners and flags, covering themselves in ashes, some bearing their guru high above on litters and thrones. To see so close their wonderful ecstatic delight, so eager to bathe in the holy river, to wash away karma, to move forward in their spiritual adventure, was exhilarating! And to come for spiritual refreshment in such a sensual way, to immerse oneself in water, to bathe! To go all the way down in, hair and all, everything soaked with redemption and release! It called up images of fundamentalists in the south of my own country, being held by the shoulders and leaned back into those Baptist stone bathtubs behind the altar, or in the river nearby, for the same purpose. But so serious, those pious Americans! For these Indians, it’s all joy, all bliss! You can see it in their faces, in their eyes, in their bearing, before and during and after the sacred immersion. But for me, of course, that sense of being “the artist,” “the observer,” the reporter. Standing back just far enough from all this spiritual splendor, so as not to really be “in” it, not to participate, not really to get wet. Getting, to be sure, even from a distance, something out of the experience, some new of karma and divine justice, perhaps, or the other philosophical blessings of the religion. But still, to be outside, looking in, to be so terribly different from these men washing white ash from their skin with the cascading waters, unable to cast oneself without reserve into this exotic and apparently ecstatic way of life. A little bitterness along with the enjoyment.The religion of others. So the last Akara comes in, bathes, drying themselves, sometimes with a partner’s long long hair. The religious excitement settles down at last. I’m going back over the submerged stone bridge, with just the same caution as I used for the first crossing. Passing the little island of cameras, where Chris, ever diligent, is still capturing images. Walking back toward the town side of the river. I’m almost to the near shore when I see Paula, our director and by now very great friend up on the shore. She waves, I’m happy to see her, and happy about the images I captured over on the other side, not to mention still happy – and this was very intense and inexplicable – very happy just to be in India. I call out to her. Then, as I have done during both crossings on this bridge, I feel about with my right foot, carefully looking for solid stone footing. But my foot does not find a stone. For some reason, I do not reconnoiter, rather, I’m off balance for just a second, there’s a moment of confusion, and then suddenly I am discovering the depth of the Holy River Shipra, which seems to want to cleanse me, to cleanse all of me, in spite of my western ways. The Shipra is not really so deep, but it’s deep enough to cover my legs, and my arms and my head – and my short western hair, not six foot dreds – and even though the hand holding the camera shoots up into the air, a vain attempt to protect the precious tiny electronics inside it, River Shipra wants the camera too, is deep enough to cleanse us all. It was quite a few chapters later, trips through the Himalayas, back home through Germany before the river-locked camera was finally opened. The camera, like a burnt stick of incense, was spent, used up, recyclable. But the hour’s worth of images, the cassette inside the camera, all the pictures of those wild holy men trailing hair and limbs, dancing and yelling in clouds of ash and smoke, was dry and alive. Visit the Paradise FilmWorkswebsite.

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“Killing in the Name of God” — Blog by Religion Transcends
July 4, 2010

Check out this great blog at http://religiontranscends.com/2010/05/killing-in-the-name-of-god/. Created by Religion Transcends, 2010. Leave a Comment » | buddhism, culture, current events, Dalai Lama, Himalayas, Hindu, religions, riots, Spirituality, Tolerance, world news | Permalink Posted by parfil

Follow us on Facebook
July 4, 2010

Not In God’s Name is now on Facebook. Click on the link below, check it out, and share it with your friends. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Not-In-Gods-Name/111472472219680 Leave a Comment » | buddhism, culture, current events, Dalai Lama, Hindu, religions, Spirituality, world news | Permalink Posted by parfil

Los Angeles Times writes about NIGN and the Emmy’s
June 23, 2010

The Envelope – June 17, 2010 Los Angeles Times Not in God’s Name listed as a “Front-runner” for Nonfiction Special Emmy Category 2010. Nominees will be announced on July 8th. Let’s cross our fingers!! The Emmy’s will air on August 28, 2010. Leave a Comment » | buddhism, culture, current events, Dalai Lama, Emmy's, Hindu, Recognition, religions, riots, Spirituality, world news | Permalink Posted by parfil

Great NY Times article by the Dalai Lama….everyone should read this!
June 3, 2010

This is a great article by the Dalai Lama. Everyone should read it…

It’s the same message he spoke of in NOT IN GOD’S NAME. How wonderful! Many Faiths, One Truth by Tenzin Gyatso (NY Times) Leave a Comment » | current events, Dalai Lama, religions, Spirituality | Permalink Posted by parfil

“Not In God’s Name” aired on PBS – Viewer e-mails
April 6, 2010

NOT IN GOD’S NAME aired at many PBS stations nationwide and also on World PBS, and it is scheduled to air at more stations in the near future. Be sure to check out www.notingodsname.com for airtimes & locations, and check your local listings. Several people have e-mailed us to say how much they enjoyed Not In God’s Name. CONGRATULATIONS to Paula and her fabulous team! Below are some of quotes from viewers… “Must tell you….. were riveted. It was excellent, disturbing but at the same time so interesting; and maybe with a glimmer of hope. We will share it with friends who have Direct TV and cannot get it.” — submitted by Angela Watkin. “Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!!! Loved the way the documentary was laid out according to faiths.” – submitted by Linda Drucker. “Congratulations Paula!!” — submitted by Sherril. 18 Comments | buddhism, culture, current events, Dalai Lama, religions, riots, Spirituality, world news | Permalink Posted by parfil

Not In God’s Name – In Search of Tolerance with The Dalai Lama – now on DVD
January 26, 2010

Currently, religious fanaticism is on the rise worldwide. Director Paula Fouce ventures into the madrassas, religious schools, and meets moderate Muslims as well as hard-liners. NOT IN GOD’S NAME traces the three reasons for religious extremism. The solutions to hatred in the name of God are laid out by His Holiness Dalai Lama. Trapped in religious riots in Delhi, filmmaker Paula Fouce follows the Dalai Lama on a journey to understand religious intolerance. NOT IN GOD’S NAME shows how the world is ravaged by extreme divisions between religions. We examine the similar values of all faiths, and their potential for drawing us together to share a common ground. Featuring Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, Robert Thurman Ph. D., Joseph Prabhu Ph. D., Swami ChidanandSaraswatiji, Dr. Karan Singh, Ph. D., Georg Feuerstein, Ph. D., Michael Bernard Beckwith, and leaders of many faiths. Conscious Life Film Festival Gold Award Winner!

57 min ~ Color ~ English ~ Stereo ~ Not Rated — Available in NTSC format (US, Canada). To purchase, visit www.notingodsname.com or the store at www.paradisefilmworks.com. For educational sales, please contact us at [email protected]. The NIGN discussion guide can be downloaded at http://paradisefilmworks.com/NIGN_DISC_GUIDE/DISCUSSION_GUIDE.pdf or on the front page of www.notingodsname.com. 11 Comments | buddhism, culture, current events, Dalai Lama, Spirituality, world news | Permalink Posted by parfil

Parliament of the World’s Religions
December 1, 2009

A Parliament of the World’s Religions is taking place in Melbourne, starting Dec 3rd, 2009. His Holiness Dalai Lama is the keynote speaker at the conference, and the film, Not In God’s Name is featured in the program. Michael Bernard Beckwith and Joseph Prabhu, Ph. D. will be on the discussion panel following the screening with Paula Fouce. Here is a link to the site: http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/ 2 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink Posted by parfil

Naked In Ashes – Director’s Cut – DVD now available!
May 10, 2009

This Special Director’s Cut is shorter than the original feature and suitable for all audiences. Available at www.nakedinashes.com or at http://store.paradisefilmworks.com/nakedinashesdirectorscut.aspx. 2 Comments | culture, Himalayas, Hindu, religions, Spirituality | Permalink Posted by parfil

SONG OF THE DUNES – NEW FILM
January 17, 2009

Paula Fouce is completing SONG OF THE DUNES. The crew was amazed to find the caste system alive and well in 2008, although it was outlawed in 1947. The film is an amazing tribute to the Untouchable musicians of Rajasthan. Their spirit is kept alive through music. More details about the film can be found at www.songofthedunes.com.

1 Comment | buddhism, culture, current events, Dalai Lama, music, Rajasthan, Spirituality, tibet, world news | Permalink Posted by parfil

Dalai Lama and Red China
May 4, 2008

If Red China wants to show a good face to the world, why don’t they seize this opportunity and meet with the Dalai Lama? Best PR they could get. 1 Comment | Uncategorized | Permalink Posted by parfil « Previous Entries

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Naked In Ashes
(Docu)
By Dennis Harvey
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A Paradise Filmworks Intl. release and production.Produced by Paula Fouce, Tim Kettle.Executive producer, Fouce.Directed by Paula Fouce. With:Mahant Sri Shiv Raj Giri, Raman Giri, SantoshGiri, Nomi Giri, DhunaGiri Naga Baba, MahamandaleshwarSitaSharan Das, Barfani Das, Hanuman Das, PawanNathAghori, ShukarNathAghori, RatanNathAghori, Narmada Puri, KashiGiri, Swami Brahmanandji, Sri Rama Pati Das, Ram Das Tyagi, GarbarNathMaharaj, Swami NardanandjiMaharaj, JagannathTyagi, Ganesh Giri. Somewhat lurid title notwithstanding, Paula Fouce's "Naked in Ashes" is a respectful, illuminating appreciation of a few of the estimated 13 million yogis in India. Briskly assembled, yet aptly channeling its subjects' air of close-to-God meditative bliss, the docu should appeal to Western New Agers and other seekers in limited theatrical, then home-format distribution. Following dates in Los Angeles and New York, pic opens in the San Francisco/Bay Area Dec. 2, with other single-screen arthouse bookings to follow. Promo materials promise glimpse of a lifestyle "never seen on film," though in fact several recent docus including "Short Cut to Nirvana" and "Ganges: River to Heaven" have covered much of the same terrain. But Fouce's principal focus on about 20 individuals gives it a distinctive slant. Usually living in extreme poverty, yogis, following a 5,000-year-old spiritual path, take on particular austerities that here include a guy who's been standing upright 24/7 for 12 years, and another who attracted attention by pulling a fully loaded jeep with his privates. (He helpfully advises "This penis control trick is not for everyone.") Pic's benevolent outlook somehow manages to make even such bizarre behaviors understandable as one person's path of liberation from our current Dark Age of materialism. There are also yogis who take regular pilgrimages high into the Himalayas, walking naked in snow, risking death from exposure. But "Ashes" isn't the "Mondo Cane" of Hinduism. Its diverse survey of yogic gurus and disciples more often conveys the serenity gained by renunciation of earthly desires via prayer, meditation, charitable works, yoga and so forth. En route, we get passing explanations of holy-fire rituals, the third eye, and the cycle of reincarnation that mystics hope to transcend. There's brief commentary on the impact of pollution and clear-cutting on sacred lands. The progression of 14-year-old SantoshGiri from foundling to fully initiated yogi reborn under Shiv Raj Giri's tutelage provides modest narrative impetus. Though its amorphous structure makes the docu seem a bit rambling by the last reels -- which focus on the massive, every-12th-year KumbhMela festival in Ujjain -- pic for the most part it holds attention quite nicely. Humor is provided by the very occasional intrusion of modernity into these out-of-time lives, as when a cell phone rings in a bamboo hut. Editing is astute, lensing often handsome, and music scoring very lively without being intrusive. Rather than using subtitles (which infrequently appear), pic utilizes numerous Indian-accented, English-language voiceover performers to translate interviewees. Camera (color, DV), Christopher G. Duffy; editor, William Haugse; music, Tony Humecke; additional camera, Neal Brown, Haugse, JurgWalthers; additional editing, Tim Kettle, Sherril Schlesinger; additional music, Steve Day; sound designer (Dolby Digital), Kent Gibson. Reviewed at Embarcadero Cinemas, San Francisco, Nov. 17, 2005. Running time: 111 MIN. Contact the variety newsroom at [email protected] Date in print: Mon., Dec. 5, 2005,

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Article:India's yogis endure and transcend pain, propelled by d:/c/a/2005/12/02/DDGJUG0QSG1.DTL Article:India's yogis endure and transcend pain, propelled by d:/c/a/2005/12/02/DDGJUG0QSG1.DTL advertisement|your ad here

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India's yogis endure and transcend pain, propelled by divine urgings
John McMurtrie, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, December 2, 2005

Naked in Ashes: Documentary. Directed by Paula Fouce. (Not rated. 108 minutes. At the Lumiere, Act 1 & 2 in Berkeley and Rafael Film Center in San Rafael.)

The clash of ancient traditions and modern civilization is at the center of "Naked in Ashes," an inspirational and cautionary film that documents the hermetic lives of a handful of Indian yogis.

Covered in ashes that symbolize life's impermanence, the Hindu holy men, amid the chaos of their urban surroundings, stand out like ghosts from the past that they may soon become. Director Paula Fouce (a Buddhist whose family has deep roots in Hollywood's past) doesn't hide her reverence for the yogis in her earnest documentary, which opens a window into a little-seen world of men who have given up almost everything in their lives to commune with their gods and carry out good deeds. Many yogis live along the crowded banks of the Ganges River, where they wash away their sins and survive on charity. Their devotion is remarkable: One yogi has kept a fire alive for 12 years; another has stood for months on end, severely injuring his leg in the process. In the film's most beautiful images, yogis travel barefoot through snow in a pilgrimage to the mountains. (Stilted dubbing of the yogis is a weak point of the documentary.) Shiv Raj Giri, an aging yogi at the heart of the film, speaks sagely about how we must protect the environment and better our welfare. "These days, things are out of balance," he says. "We are lost in this ocean of miseries." E-mail John McMurtrie at [email protected].
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/02/DDGJUG0QSG1.DTL This article appeared on page E - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle © 2010 Hearst Communications Inc. | Privacy Policy | Feedback | RSS Feeds | FAQ | Site Index | Contact

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MOVIE REVIEW

'Naked in Ashes'
Journeying into the spiritual world of yogis.
By Kevin Thomas Times Staff Writer October 21, 2005 Paula Fouce's beautiful, illuminating documentary "Naked in Ashes" takes the

viewer into the profoundly spiritual world of India's yogis, who see their taking on the sins of humanity as a source of healing and redemption for others. In an increasingly materialistic, polluted and chaotic world, the yogis offer a dramatically alternative way of life. They have been drawn to submit to an ascetic discipline involving meditation, controlled breathing and attaining certain postures to achieve liberation from self in order to form a union with the supremely, universal spiritual soul. Fouce follows the paths of several yogis in their peregrinations, rituals, ceremonies and religious festivals where they offer special cures and healing services for all who seek them out. In doing so, she takes us into the lives of those who have learned to live — apart from their various pilgrimages, mainly to the sacred Himalayas — in the midst of the hustle-bustle of modern urban life, yet at the same time transcend it. They stay close to the Ganges, also held sacred, and subsist on donations that allow them to survive mainly on fruit and water, scant clothing and shelter. They regard their campfires as holy, and they cover their bodies, often naked except for loincloths, with ashes from the fires. The world Fouce takes the viewer into is intoxicatingly rich and varied, at once immediate and contemporary and timeless with its images of ancient temples, elephants and the yogis. The film's central figure is the charismatic and commanding Shiv Raj Giri, a tall, striking, somewhat paunchy but sturdy man with a silverly beard and long reddish-blondish dreadlocks he sometimes coils on top of his head. For all the rapture he speaks of with his way of life, he not only is alarmed at the world's deteriorating environment but also expresses pessimism as to how much yogis can really affect change for the good. He even predicts yogis, despite an estimated 13 million in India, will die out in 50 years. Fouce acquaints the viewer with a number of other yogis, who help provide a rounded view of the experience, with its unique challenges and rewards. The beautifully crafted "Naked in Ashes" is the third of four documentaries made by Fouce, who for three decades has studied and embraced the religious teachings found in Nepal, India and Tibet. Her family name is familiar to longtime Angelenos; her grandfather Frank Fouce Sr. was a Hollywood film pioneer and a major exhibitor in downtown Los Angeles and elsewhere for decades. He then established the first Spanish language TV station in the U.S., with his son Frank Jr. carrying on and expanding his many enterprises. By being a filmmaker, Paula Fouce is carrying on a family tradition in her own distinctive manner.

'Naked in Ashes'

MPAA rating: Unrated Times guidelines: Brief nudity, adult themes A Paradise Filmworks International presentation. Writer-executive producer-director Paula Fouce.Producer Tim Kettle.Creative producer Maria Florio.

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Copyright 2011 Los Angeles Times

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