Crows Are White

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Crows Are White

2022

1h 37m

Documentary

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16 Reviews

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For over a thousand years, a secretive Buddhist sect has lived in an isolated monastery in Japan performing acts of extreme physical endurance in their pursuit of enlightenment. A filmmaker, struggling to reconcile his desires with his faith, sets off to the strict monastery in search of answers. When he arrives, his presence is not welcomed and the only monk who will speak with him is an outcast who prefers ice cream and Slayer to meditation. Together they forge an unlikely friendship that leads them to higher truths and occasionally, a little trouble. Shot over five years on three continents, Crows Are White is an exploration of truth, faith and love, from the top of a mountain to the bottom of a sundae.

Peter Debruge

Variety

05/06/2022

Ahsen Nadeem never intended to make the doc that became “Crows Are White” as deeply, disarmingly personal as it turned out, but in re-centering the focus on himself, he arrived at a much more honest movie.

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Sheri Linden

The Hollywood Reporter

03/18/2022

A film that abounds in lovely oddities and gently loony surprises.

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Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

03/13/2022

Whatever his original aim was, what Nadeem has achieved here is a sometimes-irritating, often-enthralling picture of faith and the messy ways humans try to reconcile the pursuit of holiness with our pesky earthly desires.

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

03/12/2024

3.5/5

Set out as a complex personal odyssey, it centres on filmmaker Ahsen Nadeem's exploration of extreme lengths people go to in search of enlightenment. The offbeat result is witty, revealing and strongly resonant.

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Serena Seghedoni

Loud and Clear Reviews

07/31/2023

3.5/5

There's also a point when the documentary becomes a little too personal, deviating so much from its initial investigation on love, religion and tradition that it feels like the film itself acts as a form of therapy for the director.

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Rob Aldam

Backseat Mafia

10/12/2022

It's an enthralling and involving treatise on the subject of faith, family and devotion

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Ahsen Nadeem

Director

Ahsen Nadeem

Self

Ahsen Nadeem

Writer

Jill Ahrens

Producer

Ryan Ahrens

Producer

Ahsen Nadeem

Producer

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Synopsis

For over a thousand years, a secretive Buddhist sect has lived in an isolated monastery in Japan performing acts of extreme physical endurance in their pursuit of enlightenment. A filmmaker, struggling to reconcile his desires with his faith, sets off to the strict monastery in search of answers. When he arrives, his presence is not welcomed and the only monk who will speak with him is an outcast who prefers ice cream and Slayer to meditation. Together they forge an unlikely friendship that leads them to higher truths and occasionally, a little trouble. Shot over five years on three continents, Crows Are White is an exploration of truth, faith and love, from the top of a mountain to the bottom of a sundae.

Director: Ahsen Nadeem
Producer: Jill Ahrens, Ryan Ahrens, Ahsen Nadeem, Sebastian Pardo, Ben Renzo, Riel Roch-Decter
Screenwriter: Ahsen Nadeem, Ahsen Nadeem, Matt H. Mayes, Dawn Blackman
Production Co: Memory
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: Japanese
Runtime: 1h 37m