Tanka
About
Tanka means, literally, a thing rolled up. The film, photographed from Tibetan scroll paintings of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, is a cyclical vision of ancient gods and demons, an animated journey through the image world of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. "With his dazzling TANKA David Lebrun has filmed a series of Tibetan paintings of mythological subjects and then programmed his footage into an optical printer to create the illusion of animation. The dazzling, vibrantly colored result is a series of dancing gods, wild revels, raging fires and sea battles between monsters." – Kevin Thomas, The Los Angeles Times "An extraordinary film." – Melinda Wortz, Art News "TANKA is brilliantly powered by the insight that Tibetan religious paintings are intended to be perceived not as in repose but as in constant movement. The water and flowers seem to dip and sway, the birds to fly and the god to move his arms sinuously." – Edgar Daniel, American Film