Genesis 2.0

the giant buddahs

• Christian Frei
• 2005

Conjuring the past, sifting the present, Christian Frei (Oscar Nomination for ) is seeking the elusive, the poetic and the profound in his cinematic journey to .. In February of 2001, the Taliban in Afghanistan issued an edict that all non-Islamic statues be destroyed. By March, the Buddhas (at 53 meters high, one of them was the tallest in the world) had been blown to bits. International outrage ensued and the hypocrisy of this is one of the subjects of Frei's beautiful inquiry. Frei retraces the footsteps of Xuanzang, the 7th century Chinese monk famed for his 16-year spiritual quest along the Silk Road to India. Bamiyan was one of his pit stops. Fascinated by the legend of the "sleeping Buddha," archaeologist Zémaryalaï Tarzi begins to excavate, even as he decries the plundering of Afghanistan's history. The film also captures a kitschy attempt to rebuild the Bamiyan Buddha as tourist attraction in China. An essay about terrorism and tolerance, ignorance and identity, fanaticsm and faith. Locarno Film Festival 2005 Toronto Film Festival 2005…