Campion EP's U.G. Krishnamurti Doc Premieres at Telluride — SkimNews
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- "The Natural State" documentary on "anti-guru" U.G. Krishnamurti holds its world premiere Saturday at the Telluride Film Festival, directed by Matt Dougherty and executive produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Jane Campion.
- Jane Campion met Krishnamurti at a Sydney hotel where she was initially unconvinced of his enlightenment; after hosting him for tea and going for a walk, she experienced powerful bodily sensations that she says caused post-menopausal bleeding and cleared a rash on her arms.
- Julie Thayer, a wealthy New York woman who obsessively filmed Krishnamurti and kept journals, provided the archival foundation for the film; Dougherty discovered her journal online and she agreed to the project despite not knowing him.
- The documentary took 10 years to complete; Dougherty came aboard after U.G.'s death in 2007 at age 88, and came from a background of parents in a fundamentalist Christian cult that made him initially skeptical of any spiritual teacher.
- U.G. Krishnamurti rejected conventional spiritual teachings — he didn't believe in cause and effect, viewed language as misleading, considered thought a purposeful distraction, and promoted the "natural state" in which the body's wisdom supersedes the mind.
- So fascinated by U.G. that Jane Campion modeled her television series "Top of the Lake" on him, casting Holly Hunter as a female counterpart named GJ after showing Hunter tapes of Krishnamurti, which initially terrified Hunter.
- Matt Dougherty says his goal was to "give U.G. the U.G. treatment" — take apart the anti-guru rather than place him on a pedestal — asking whether an enlightened person must fit society's conventions or norms.
Why it matters: Campion's Oscar-winning stature brings mainstream visibility to a little-known Indian philosopher who spent his career dismantling the very concept of the guru, while Dougherty's 10-year commitment ensures the documentary subjects Krishnamurti to the same unsparing critique he applied to his followers.
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