Subject

Upper Story is the title of this project, a “high level” story about science and meditation.
This documentary follows a long-established collaboration between leading contemplative researchers and Tibetan monks on how the human mind can be trained to improve mental well-being.
Since the 1970s, Prof. Tenzin Gyatso, known as the XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet, proposed to some of the most brilliant neuroscientists in the world to begin a series of conversations on the 4 main sciences: Cosmology, Neurobiology, Physics (including Quantum Physics ) and Psychology, territories common to both the Tibetan and Western scientific traditions. In today’s world, more than 10% of the world population suffers from mental illness. The long-standing collaboration between HH Dalai Lama and neuroscientists has led to the discovery of the incredible potential of the human mind and how it can be trained to improve our mental well-being. This interaction created something new and stimulating and improve the impact we have on our planet.
“if you really make effort with vision we can change “

The journey

We left in August 2017 for Botswana, first stop Gaborone in South Africa; then our journey to meet beautiful people with amazing ideas continued, so we went twice in India, to Dharamsala, at the home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, here in 2018 we also participated in the XXXIII congress of the Mind & Life Institute; we went to Madison, Wisconsin, visiting the Center of Healthy Minds’ laboratories, where we met Richard Davidson and Matthieu Ricard investigating on how our brain behaves; then again in the south of India, at the Drepung Loseling Meditation and Science Center, to meet young Americans which want to meditate; then to Atlanta (USA) at Emory University, to meet the monks who want to refine their scientific studies; finally, we concluded in Charlottesville, to show you where a lot of things started.
All of this show us “how mindfulness can improve well-being and outlines strategies to boost four components of a healthy mind: awareness, connection, insight, and purpose”

cast

H.H. XIV Dalai Lama
Susan Bauer Wu
Richard Davidson
Matthieu Ricard
Tania Singer
Lobsang Tenzin Negi
Uri Hasson
Thukten Dema, Katie Kane, Christian Vallejo, Caroline Wilkinson.

crew

Director and Writer Alessandra Pedrotti C.
Camera: Jerry Risius, Stefano Palombi, second camera India Rajarshi Sengupta
Art Director Marta Pierobon
Producer Alessandra Pedrotti C.
Line Producer: Valentina Barbazza
Visual Consultant and Backstage Photos: Laura Majolino
Editing Angelo Guarracino
Original Soundtracks Luca Morelli Sound Design: Andrea Costantini

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