Khyentse Norbu

Directing

Khyentse Norbu

Born 1961-06-18 · Bhutan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche (born 1961), also known as Khyentse Norbu, is a Bhutanese lama, filmmaker, and writer. His two major films are The Cup (1999) and Travellers and Magicians (2003). He is the author of the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist (Shambhala, 2007). He is also a prominent tulku associated with Dzongsar Monastery in Derge, Eastern Tibet. Description above from the Wikipedia article Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​

Acting credits

Brilliant Moon: Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche poster
7.0

Brilliant Moon chronicles the life of the writer, poet, and meditation master Khyentse Rinpoche, one of Tibet's most revered 20th-century Buddhist teachers. Spiritual guide to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Royal Family of Bhutan, his life and teachings were an inspiration to all who encountered him. Richard Gere and Lou Reed provide the narration for his dangerous journey out of China, the subsequent spread of his influence and the search for his reincarnation after his death.

Brilliant Moon: Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

2010

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Refuge

2006

Bipolar poster
7.0

A young lady comes to Lhasa alone for pilgrimage, but a "multicolored magical lobster" enshrined by other people has totally changed her plan. She made a decision to take the lobster home to the ocean, and this set her and the lobster on the journey cross half of China. During her journey, she comes cross many interesting characters and experiences. At the same time, memories, dreams, and hallucinations emerged intermittently. The journey to set the lobster free came to an end in an unexpected way. She finally reached the most secret place in her heart.

Bipolar

2021

Visions of a Teacher poster
NR

In this documentary we see Khyentse Norbu (director of The Cup, 1999) in Nepal during the filming for his latest film Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache, where he effortlessly switches between working with the hip film crew and performing ancient Buddhist rituals.

Visions of a Teacher

2019

Tulku poster
NR

The film details the personal experiences of five young Western men who were identified in childhood as being tulkus, or reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist masters.

Tulku

2012

Words of My Perfect Teacher poster
8.5

Three students seek the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhist master, soccer aficionado and filmmaker Khyentse Norbu in this captivating documentary, which takes viewers on a journey from the World Cup in Germany to the isolated Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan. Bernardo Bertolucci and Steven Seagal make appearances in the film, and the world music soundtrack is provided by Sting, Tara Slone and Joydrop, Steve Tibbetts, U.Man.Tek, Kunga 19 and many others.

Words of My Perfect Teacher

2003

Behind the camera

Hema Hema poster
6.1

The dazzling new film from Bhutanese lama and filmmaker Khyentse Norbu (The Cup, Travellers and Magicians) chronicles a sacred jungle ritual whose masked, anonymous participants seek after complete self-knowledge — or descend into thievery, violation, and murder.

Hema Hema

2016

Hema Hema poster
6.1

The dazzling new film from Bhutanese lama and filmmaker Khyentse Norbu (The Cup, Travellers and Magicians) chronicles a sacred jungle ritual whose masked, anonymous participants seek after complete self-knowledge — or descend into thievery, violation, and murder.

Hema Hema

2016

Dakini: Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache poster
6.8

When an ambitious, skeptical young entrepreneur faces strange portents of impending death, he is thrust into a mystical world of ancient wisdom and traditional beliefs that points to a special woman as his only hope for life.

Dakini: Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache

2021

Dakini: Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache poster
6.8

When an ambitious, skeptical young entrepreneur faces strange portents of impending death, he is thrust into a mystical world of ancient wisdom and traditional beliefs that points to a special woman as his only hope for life.

Dakini: Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache

2021

The Cup poster
6.6

While the World Cup is being played in France, two young Tibetan refugees arrive at a monastery in India. The atmosphere of serene contemplation is soon disrupted by soccer fever, as the two students desperately seek a TV to watch the final.

The Cup

1999

The Cup poster
6.6

While the World Cup is being played in France, two young Tibetan refugees arrive at a monastery in India. The atmosphere of serene contemplation is soon disrupted by soccer fever, as the two students desperately seek a TV to watch the final.

The Cup

1999

Vara: A Blessing poster
8.4

In a small Indian village, Lila is learning to dance from her mother, Devadasi, a Bharatanatyam dancer. She falls in love with low class Shyam, who dreams of becoming a sculptor. Shyam asks Lila to model for him as he sculpts a goddess, and the two become very close. However, their relationship is discovered by the village chief Subha, and Lila decides to sacrifice her happiness for her mother and Shyam.

Vara: A Blessing

2014

Vara: A Blessing poster
8.4

In a small Indian village, Lila is learning to dance from her mother, Devadasi, a Bharatanatyam dancer. She falls in love with low class Shyam, who dreams of becoming a sculptor. Shyam asks Lila to model for him as he sculpts a goddess, and the two become very close. However, their relationship is discovered by the village chief Subha, and Lila decides to sacrifice her happiness for her mother and Shyam.

Vara: A Blessing

2014

Travellers and Magicians poster
7.0

A young government official, named Dondup, who is smitten with America (he even has a denim gho) dreams of escaping there while stuck in a beautiful but isolated village. He hopes to connect in the U.S. with a visa out of the country. He misses the one bus out of town to Thimphu, however, and is forced to hitchhike and walk along the Lateral Road to the west, accompanied by an apple seller, a Buddhist monk with his ornate, dragon-headed dramyin, a drunk, a widowed rice paper maker, and his beautiful daughter, Sonam.

Travellers and Magicians

2003

Travellers and Magicians poster
7.0

A young government official, named Dondup, who is smitten with America (he even has a denim gho) dreams of escaping there while stuck in a beautiful but isolated village. He hopes to connect in the U.S. with a visa out of the country. He misses the one bus out of town to Thimphu, however, and is forced to hitchhike and walk along the Lateral Road to the west, accompanied by an apple seller, a Buddhist monk with his ornate, dragon-headed dramyin, a drunk, a widowed rice paper maker, and his beautiful daughter, Sonam.

Travellers and Magicians

2003

Pig at the Crossing poster
NR

OLOM, 29, a passionate YouTube creator and newly appointed school teacher in Bhutan has a one-night stand with a married woman, DEKI, 32. When she discovers that she’s pregnant, Dolom concocts a plan to cover up the affair and save his reputation. On his way to rendezvous with Deki, Dolom gets into a motorcycle accident and wakes up in a bizarre, and chaotic world. ​ Slowly he begins to realize that he is in fact dead. With the help of a mysterious guide, Dolom navigates this in-between realm and faces his storied past and the consequences of his actions. As time collapses around him, he must choose to right his wrongs and let go of his attachment to his former self or be trapped to wander in a dream-like in-between state for timelessness.

Pig at the Crossing

2024

Pig at the Crossing poster
NR

OLOM, 29, a passionate YouTube creator and newly appointed school teacher in Bhutan has a one-night stand with a married woman, DEKI, 32. When she discovers that she’s pregnant, Dolom concocts a plan to cover up the affair and save his reputation. On his way to rendezvous with Deki, Dolom gets into a motorcycle accident and wakes up in a bizarre, and chaotic world. ​ Slowly he begins to realize that he is in fact dead. With the help of a mysterious guide, Dolom navigates this in-between realm and faces his storied past and the consequences of his actions. As time collapses around him, he must choose to right his wrongs and let go of his attachment to his former self or be trapped to wander in a dream-like in-between state for timelessness.

Pig at the Crossing

2024

No artwork available
NR

Ram is a middle-aged Behrupiya – a traditional performer who impersonates gods and other figures at weddings and parties around Kathmandu. When his wife dies suddenly, Ram faces a crisis he cannot perform his way out of, left with his alcoholic, unemployed son, an aspiring avant-garde photographer.

Perfect God

No artwork available
NR

Ram is a middle-aged Behrupiya – a traditional performer who impersonates gods and other figures at weddings and parties around Kathmandu. When his wife dies suddenly, Ram faces a crisis he cannot perform his way out of, left with his alcoholic, unemployed son, an aspiring avant-garde photographer.

Perfect God

Year 2118 poster
NR

In Year 2118, set in a Buddhist monastery on the ‘Kathmandu Valley beachfront’, Norbu imagines what impact the passage of a century might have on Buddhist teaching practices.

Year 2118

2019