Docs Ireland 2023: Crows are White
Docs Ireland 2023 presents Crows are White (2022), monk and filmmaker Ahsen Nadeem's autobiographical search for enlightenment.
Ahsen Nadeem originally wanted to make a film about “marathon monks” belonging to a secretive Buddhist sect in Japan who reach enlightenment through highly determined feats of strength.
Instead, his own life kept getting in the way. Through walking the tightrope of keeping his devout parents happy and living his own life, he has caught himself up in a web of lies and deception. Now that he is engaged to the woman he loves, someone his parents do not know exists, Ahsen wants to come clean. Crows are White is a quirky and funny film which follows Nadeem as he travels to Mount Hiei where he believes he will find enlightenment of his own, but instead finds friendship in the only monk willing to talk to him, the rebellious heavy metal loving monk, Ryushin.
Delightfully shot and featuring a distinctive and moving score, the film never feels narcissistic or self-indulgent, but authentic and heart-warming as it finds connection in the least likely of places.
