The opportunity to speak to a filmmaker after seeing his film is a rare one, but U Street café Busboys and Poets is up to the task. The café is pairing up with Nomadsland.com to present the "Films that Matter" series. Approximately 30 people gathered in the Langston Room Sunday for the screening of "Lost Children of Buddha," the most recent film of this series.
The film is a documentary about a Thai kickboxer-turned-Buddhist monk and his monastery on the Thai-Burmese border. It is a visually stunning, well-paced look into the daily lives of the monk Kruh Bai and the nun Kun Eid. The film chronicles their efforts to care for orphaned and impoverished children and provide community outreach services on the Thai-Burmese border.
The plot centers on the stories of two boys, Suk and Pan Sen, whom the monastery community adopts. Khru Bai and Kun Eid raise the pair. Suk was found in a pile of garbage, according to the film, and Kun Eid says when Khru Bai found him, he refused to talk for several months. Through a combination of tenderness and tough love, Suk becomes a part of the monastery community and a fierce kickboxer. Pan Sen is sent to the monastery by his parents when they could no longer afford to feed him
The film does an excellent job of capturing the tenderness of human interactions. As Kun Eid clips toenails, spoon-feeds and shaves heads, we can almost feel the motherly warmth that emanates from her.
Even though Kruh Bai tells the boys not to rely on anyone, he forces them to care for each other, and the sense of community is palpable.
Some of Khru Bai's brand of tough love can be difficult to accept. One scene displays Khru Bai hitting one of the children on the head for crying and telling him to "be a man."
In one of the villages Khru Bai visits, a fight breaks out and he attacks one of the boys who calls him a "crazy monk." He also forces the boys to sit down and talk through the dispute, and the matter eventually ends without further violence.
After the film, audience members were able to speak with the filmmakers via satellite. The filmmakers explained some of the film's context. They said they spent about 16 months filming and captured approximately 150 hours of footage. Nomadsland.com, which the site describes as a "destination on the Web for global social issue media," features about 25 short videos.
The site's founder, Davin Hutchins, is a filmmaker and producer at the American News Project who has also worked with CNN, Reuters and the BBC.
In an interview with The Eagle at the screening, Hitchins said he screened about 200 documentaries for the "Films That Matter" series. Half of the $5 admission fee from screenings and advertising on the Web site goes directly to the filmmakers whose films are featured in the series and on the Web site, Hutchins said.
Hutchins explained that the next version of the site will launch in December and will feature full-length documentaries. The new site will charge a modest subscription fee, probably about $2 a month, and users will be able to download videos and burn them to DVD for an additional charge.
"The whole idea is to get community screenings," Hutchins said.
The next "Films That Matter" screening, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 12 at Busboys and Poets, will feature "Zhao and Yang: The Unbreakables," which is about two artists and the culture of repression and mistrust in China.
Busboys and Poets is a restaurant, bookstore and gathering place where people can discuss issues of social justice and peace, according to the café's Web site.
The café's full menu is available during the screenings, but no purchase is required.
Viewers who are likely to be distracted by servers walking back and forth in front of the film should ask for a table in front or to the right side of the screen.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
