A documentary film crew filmed UWest’s Rev. Danny Fisher on Oct. 1 in his office.

From right to left: filmmaker Vanessa Smith, crew member Barry Conrad, crew member Luis Ramirez, and Rev. Fisher.

ROSEMEAD – Calif., Oct. 4, 2010 – University of the West professor and Buddhist raconteur Rev. Danny Fisher was interviewed on Friday, Oct. 1, for a documentary project on the Buddhist notion of impermanence.  

Filmmaker Vanessa H. Smith and her crew interviewed Rev. Fisher in his office on the UWest campus for his inclusion in the film, along with such Buddhist teachers and scholars as Columbia University's Robert Thurman, the Upaya Zen Center's Roshi Joan Halifax, the Venerable Palden Gyatso, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, and His Holiness the 17th Karmapa in commenting on Buddhist notions of impermanence for the film. The film is yet to be given a title.  

“I’m humbled and a little embarrassed to be speaking about Buddhism alongside such an extraordinary group – some of them great friends and teachers of mine,” Fisher said. “At the same time, I was delighted to be able to celebrate UWest and the work of the Buddhist Chaplaincy program in this way.”  

Rev. Fisher is currently Coordinator of UWest’s successful M.Div. in Buddhist Chaplaincy program, which so far has placed the second-ever Buddhist chaplain in the U.S. Army. As part of his interview, Danny spoke about the university and the training of its M.Div. students.  

Others interviewed for the film include National Book Critics Circle Award-winning poet Sharon Olds and National Medal of Arts-honored painter/photographer Chuck Close.  

According to her Web site, Smith has lived and worked in New York, India, Nepal, London and North Carolina since her graduation from Stanford. She has produced and directed several other projects for Columbia Pictures, PBS, BBC, Discovery, Discovery Health and Johns Hopkins University, including a BBC project that changed Nepalese law and won her the Amnesty International Media Award.  

For more information about the film as it develops, visit http://wwww.vanessasmithfilm.com.