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UCLA Film & Television Archive, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Alice Waters Institute for Edible Education at UC Davis present

Reimagining the Olympiad: Body and Mind

A woman standing in a landscape with waterfalls.
December 9, 2023 - 4:00 pm
In-person: 
Bita Amani, associate professor, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science; Sheila Bates, Black Lives Matter Grassroots policy coordinator, organizer and doula; Nalleli Cobo, climate activist, Goldman Environmental Prize winner; Alisa Dennis, clinical psychologist and mindfulness teacher; Peter Sellars, theater director and UCLA distinguished professor.


Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.

ASL interpretation will be provided for the complete program.


Reimagining the Olympiad invites you to join fellow Angelenos in an inaugural salon to commune through film, conversation and food on the subject of healing the body in its various states of being, from the physical and spiritual to the body politic and the planetary body. Renowned theater director Peter Sellars will introduce the West Coast theatrical premiere of his latest multidisciplinary performance film, this body is so impermanent… (2021), born of a remarkable international collaboration between him and an ensemble of acclaimed artists: South Indian devotional singer Ganavya, master calligrapher Wang Dongling and improvisatory dancer Michael Schumacher. The audience will be eased into the screening with a guided meditation led by Alisa Dennis before the start of the film. Following the screening, Sellars will be joined on stage by a panel of prestigious guests for a wide-ranging conversation on paths of healing and care in this global moment of converging social and environmental crises. Following the program, patrons are welcome to reserve a table at Lulu in the Hammer courtyard for a delicious vegetarian prix fixe menu inspired by the film. (The in-theater program will conclude at approximately 6:30 p.m.).

this body is so impermanent…

U.S., 2021

Inspired by the first century Buddhist text Vimalakirti Sutra, the latest project from renowned theater director Peter Sellars is a call to community to learn and heal together during a time of sickness. A multi-disciplinary performance film, this body is so impermanent… was born of a remarkable international collaboration between Sellars and a trio of acclaimed artists as COVID-19 washed over the globe. Working virtually across continents under quarantine, South Indian devotional singer Ganavya, master calligrapher Wang Dongling and improvisatory dancer Michael Schumacher engaged with the Sutra and each other in an ensemble act of creation and healing. Sellars orchestrates breath and brushstroke, movement and mindfulness into a visual poem of stunning power. 

DCP, color, 79 min. Director: Peter Sellars. With: Wang Dongling, Ganavya, Michael Schumacher.