A native of the United Kingdom, Mark Elliott started making documentaries in the early 1970s when he came to Dharamshala, India with a primitive video camera and made a film at the invitation of the Dalai Lama. His Buddhist films include THE LION’S ROAR, on the XVI Gyalwang Karmapa; YANGSI, on the incarnation of the great Tibetan Lama Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche; NURTURING COMPASSION, BODHISATTVA,  and UNDER THE BODHI TREE, all with the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa. Other subjects of his films include the Lakota medicine men Henry and Leonard Crow Dog (CROW DOG’S PARADISE), high-wire walker Philippe Petit (CONCERT IN THE SKY), and radical psychiatrist RD Laing (EROS, LOVE AND LIES).

Mr. Elliott’s films have been featured theatrically and in film festivals throughout the world. They have been shown on international television as well as stateside on The Discovery Channel, National Geographic Explorer and PBS. For the last 30 years he has made his home in the remote mountain community of Crestone, Colorado. 

Underneath their ordinary exterior, these films contain a wealth of insights into the migration of Buddhism from the East to West. By witnessing this transition, we learn a lot about the meaning of Dharma, too. While Mr. Elliott eschews the moniker 'dharma filmmaker' — as there may not be such a rubric — still, ever since THE LION'S ROAR (1985), considered a spiritual classic, his films have opened a window onto the landscape of modern Buddhism like few others.

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