WORDS OF MY PERFECT TEACHER

From Cleveland to Toronto, London to Munich, and finally to Bhutan, director Lesley Ann Patten searches for something: a path, the perfect teacher, enough funding to finish this film. She seeks out the Tibetan/Bhutanese Buddhist lama Khyentse Norbu. An engaging trickster, Norbu proves to be a great companion, but is a difficult subject for a documentary, and an even more mysterious teacher. Patten weaves the present day with the fascinating history of Norbu in this film that is both revealing and frustrating, just like the lama himself. He is a modern master teacher, with students all over the world, a heavy travel schedule, several cell phones, several email aliases, and a filmmaker himself. Patten and her crew are joined by Buddhist students Luc from Vancouver and Louise from London, a group that poses questions that are only sometimes answered. They travel ultimately to Bhutan, the lama?s homeland. Interestingly, he admits he doesn?t like his ?profession,? and yet this film is a teaching in itself. Cameos by Bernardo Bertolucci and Steven Seagal.