Mitten ins Herz

The San Francisco Zen Center will sponsor a three-day Buddhist Film Festival from Sept. 20-22. All I have at the moment are two details: an information number (415-255-6534) and the fact that the filmmaker Dorris Dörrie will receive an award.

Dörrie is the feminist filmmaker who made a film called Mitten ins Herz (U.S. title "Straight Through the Heart"). It's about an aimless young woman who decides to liven up her life by dying her hair blue. Sure enough, she meets someone who changes her life, but not as she expected. The guy is a rich, but deadly dull, dentist. He is such a stiff that she decides she's going to make him fall in love with her, just to penetrate his shell. The consequences of this are frightening and hilarious, leading to lies, murder and kidnapping. That was in 1983 and the film is unavailable on video but I remember it so clearly.

Anyway, Dörrie will be receiving an award for her 2000 film Enlightenment Guaranteed, about two Germans adrift in Japan who decide to study zen.

There'll be a reception for Dörrie on Friday, Sept. 20. Call the number above for more info.