ILLUMINATE Virtual Film Festival

The transformative power of personal healing for parents and the impact it can have on our children's brain development is explored with authenticity and rigor. Through the unfiltered narratives of real parents and experts in the field, Seen promises not just compelling storytelling but the potential for profound societal impact. Together, we are illuminating the path toward emotional liberation and healthier connections—with both ourselves and our children.

In 1981, the Dalai Lama performed a historic Kalachakra Tantra initiation in Wisconsin, marking Tibetan Buddhism's arrival in America. Thousands gathered, a temple rose in weeks, and a new spiritual foundation was laid in the West—captured on film, then locked away in the Smithsonian. Now, this never-before-seen footage is revealed, immersing viewers in a forgotten chapter of spiritual history that shaped a generation and still resonates today.

When Paul Gralen is diagnosed with ALS he makes the brave decision to use legally available methods to end his own life. At first, his wife Beth is scared to lose him, but together they go on a guided psilocybin journey and ultimately lose their fear of death. Beth reaches out to William Peters, the world's leading expert on the Shared Death Experience (SDE), to begin the process of SDE training in order to have a conscious and loving end-of-life experience.

During her 17th birthday party, Grace Fisher is struck with a polio like virus that left her fully paralyzed from the neck down. Circle of Grace takes a journey into her imagination as she paints a stunning image merely with a paintbrush attached to an apparatus in her mouth. Grace also composed the score for the film using that same technique, one note at a time.

A docudrama about a Chinese QiGong Master who grew up in brutal conditions during the Cultural Revolution in Maoist China, where he had to keep his gifts a secret. He eventually fled to the West and developed a significant following but also experienced a crushing fall from Grace. While he'd helped thousands to heal themselves from terminal diseases, he'd neglected to heal himself––from his own ancestral trauma.

Gath and K'iyh: Listen to Heal is a poetic exploration of a community-led creative arts project aimed at understanding and restoring our relationship with gath (king salmon) and k'iyh (birch) relatives as we navigate our feelings around climate change in Alaska. Guided by the wisdom of Ahtna Elder Fred John, it invites viewers to pause, listen, sing and dream together and ask how we might be in better relationship to the natural world around us.

Ngarridurndeng Kured (We Going Home Now) follows Dean Yibarbuk, his family and community as they return to their traditional homeland in Kuwarddewardde – the rock country – to help protect their territory from devastating wildfires and reestablish their communities and support their families' and way of life.