Gurukulam

NY Premiere Screenings

2014, USA, Neil Dalal, Jillian Elizabeth, 108 mins.

Q&A with the filmmakers, moderated by NY journalist and critic Aaron Hillis, follows the screening.

In vivid and sensuous detail, Gurukulam follows a group of students and their teacher as they confront fundamental questions about the nature of reality and self-identity at a remote forest ashram in southern India. Daily chores, meditation, ritual, and rigorous study are woven together connecting the natural and spiritual worlds in moments of surprising revelation and comic contradiction. Deeply observational and experiential, Gurukulam evokes the presence of the place and a tactile sense of the sacred. The richly layered soundscape and the intimate imagery bring us into a place of extraordinary beauty and simplicity. From Swami Dayananda’s first lesson: “˜Saying is only an expression of what you see,’ Gurukulam is a rare invitation to look, listen, and experience a contemplative rhythm of life as old as the Bhagavad Gita and as new as present-day India.

A reception in Café Serai follows this premiere screening, featuring a performance in the Spiral Lobby by South Indian Carnatic violinist, Anjna Swaminathan.