Next Wednesday, Sep. 9, the Fine Arts Center at UMass Amherst will show the 2024 documentary film “Wisdom of Happiness,” which offers an intimate and inspiring portrait of the fourteenth Dalai Lama. The showing and talk-back joins the campus with the local and global Tibetan community, leaders of the International Campaign for Tibet, and our own U.S. representative, Jim McGovern. We speak with the many folx that have come together to make this event happen about the importance of the film and the vigilance of hope, Betsy Cracco, assistant vice chancellor for Campus Life and Well Being; chair of the planning committee, Thondup Tsering; co-chair of the committee, Dhardon Sharling, who will serve as emcee for the evening; and Elizabeth Gittens, the Fine Arts Center's director of education and engagement.
And, one of the folx that will participate in that post-film conversation is the producer on the film itself, world-renowned actor Richard Gere. He is no stranger to UMass since his attendance in his early twenties, and we speak with him about his connection with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dalai Lama, the experience of production on this work, and his ongoing ties to the plight of Tibet and the teachings of Buddhism.
Plus, Provisions in Amherst is getting ready to celebrate Japan Fest, exploring the many beverages, snacks, and other comestibles of that nation. We head to their Northampton location with purveyor Benson Hyde for a preemptive Thunderdome of Sake in preparation of the delights to come.
