Chad Pankewitz

The finest nonfiction transports the reader or viewer to lands or people unknown, unseen by the vast majority of us. Director Edward A. Burger's journey began when he read Bill Porter's Road to Heaven, which whispered secrets about an ancient sect of Zen masters living in isolation in the furthest reaches of the Zhongnan Mountains. Inspired, Burger retraces barely visible footprints and locates the wise men and women who call the mountains their home and who maintain traditions reaching back 5,000 years. Burger himself becomes a student of one master, but his camera and curiosity lead to ever more remote areas of the mountains in search of the most revered wise men. Few foreigners have ever been this close, and it is with exceptional grace and an eye for details that he allows the viewer the privilege of joining him. (MF)… (mehr)