Through the Eastern Gate in Hawaii (USA)

official selection MAUI Film Festival
| 15 June 2007 |

Filmed in the gorgeous countryside and ancient cities of India and Turkey, this quiet, compelling documentary follows three young people who have turned their backs on the material comforts and distractions of the West to find meaning in the spiritual philosophies of the East.

Sister Yeshe Chodron's journey led her from Australia to the foothills of the Himalayas, and life as a Buddhist nun. On a riverbank in southern India, Ronela Vainio, a native of Finland, immerses herself in tantric yoga. A tall Californian, Aziz Abbatiello lives as a Sufi dervish in Turkey, where he prays, sings, and spins himself into spiritual ecstasy.

Against the idyllic settings in which the young people practice their disciplines, speeded-up scenes of Western life indict a world of hurried and aimless pursuits. Yet we also see the challenges of the lives these three have chosen - not merely material sacrifices, but the sheer effort of delving ever deeper beneath the surface trappings to attain true spirituality. "It's easy to go around in circles", says Aziz, " but to empty yourself of yourself, that's a struggle". "My family still wonders why I wanted to go so far away", says Ronela, "why I don't live like a normal human being".