Event

Opening Night with Reception

Opening night reception, opening ceremony, opening program and film CONNECTED. Director Tiffany Shlain joins us via Skype to take questions from the audience.

BuddhaFest opens its third annual festival with a ceremony that energetically links everyone in the audience. Our opening program celebrates the interdependence of all life.

Bhante Uparatana leads an opening chant and meditation. He is the Buddhist Chaplain at American University and chief monk of the International Buddhist Center in Wheaton.
Several monks from the International Buddhist Center and the Wat Thai Temple in Silver Spring join him.

Filmmaker then Tiffany Shlain takes us on a warm and exhilarating journey of self-discovery with CONNECTED. Have you ever faked a restroom trip to check your email? Slept with your laptop? Or become so overwhelmed that you just unplugged from it all?

In this funny, eye-opening and inspiring film, Shlain investigates what it means to be connected in the 21st century. From founding the Webby Awards to being a passionate advocate for The National Day of Unplugging, Shlain's love/hate relationship with technology serves as the springboard for a thrilling exploration of modern lifeand our interconnected future.

CONNECTED premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Equal parts documentary and memoir, the film unfolds during a year in which technology and science literally become a matter of life and death for the director. Using a brilliant mix of animation, archival footage, and home movies, Shlain reveals the surprising ties that link us not only to the people we love, but also to the world at large.