Monk With A Camera Trailer (2014)

Trailer for Monk With A Camera.

Perhaps no one on the planet possesses a more beguiling or disarming laugh than the Dalai Lama. To be in his presence and hear his laugh directed at you must be truly overwhelming. Such is the case for Nicholas “Nicky” Vreeland, sitting in a non-descript hotel room in Long Beach across from His Holiness (and Richard Gere), as the Dalai Lama laughs and makes a request of Nicky that will change the course of his life.

If you recognize the name “Vreeland,” then you would be correct: he is the grandson of fashion icon Diana Vreeland (subject of the PSIFF 2012 hit "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel"). So, why is Nicky, once on the path of becoming a high-powered photographer, now in this position?

This enthralling documentary by Tina Mascara and Guido Santi ("Chris and Don: A Love Story"), grants us intimate access to Nicky and his extraordinary spiritual journey. We see behind the curtain of Tibetan Buddhism and inside the heart and mind of a man whose every step takes him further away from one seemingly pre-ordained life and toward another.