Tanka - Night Fire Films - Films that explore the rich ways humans have made sense of their world through myth, ritual, art and science.

TANKA means, literally, "a thing rolled up". TANKA, photographed from Tibetan scroll paintings of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, is a cyclical vision of ancient gods and demons, an animated journey through the image world of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

BRONZE HUGO, CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
GOLD MEDAL, VIRGIN ISLANDS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

"With his dazzling TANKA David Lebrun has filmed a series of Tibetan paintings of mythological subjects and then programmed his footage into an optical printer to create the illusion of animation. The dazzling, vibrantly colored result is a series of dancing gods, wild revels, raging fires and sea battles between monsters." -- Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

"TANKA is brilliantly powered by the insight that Tibetan religious paintings are intended to be perceived not as in repose but as in constant movement. Lebrun has created the illusion of motion in this painted world. The water and flowers seem to dip and sway, the birds to fly, and the god to move his arms sinuously." -- Edgar Daniel, American Film

"An extraordinary film." -- Melinda Wortz, Art News

"A dazzling kaleidoscope that seems to animate the images of gods, goddesses, beasts and demons photographed from Tibetan paintings into some strange and compelling ritual dance." -- Don Morrison, Minneapolis Star

Produced and directed by David Lebrun; original score by Ashish Khan (sarod) Buddy Arnold (saxophone, clarinet, flute) Pranesh Khan (tablas) and Francisco Lupica (percussion).

9 minutes / Color / Sound / 16mm or VHS

TANKA can be ordered from the Night Fire Films Store.