Jew in the Lotus, The

Writer Rodger Kamanetez accompanies a diverse group of rabbis to a meeting in India with the 14th Dalai Lama in this provocative, passionate 60-minute documentary directed by Laurel Chilton. Kamanetez has experienced an incredible sense of worthlessness after the death of his newborn son and a publishing failure. During the summit, he works through his own pain and reconnects with his Jewish roots while his “dream team” compatriots wrestle with the secrets of spiritual survival in exile. The exotic physical aspects of this spiritual odyssey are captured in effective time-lapse photography and scenic Indian montages.