What are some entertaining/fictional movies, books, etc. about Buddhadharma or Buddha himself?

The french born Wanderer and former Bhikkhu Isidhamma has specialed himself in producing dhammic stories in Burma which he/their give as present of Dhamma. Some are in burmese, french and english, or with subtitles.

You may contact him and get known his work on dhammadana.org

Some of them are:

• The Great Legacy

  Aye Mi is an ambitious photographer eager to start a career in advertising but doesn't have enough money to buy a camera. Her only hope is to recover a lost inheritance, a valuable ruby.

Aye Mi discovers that the jewel has been taken by some young evil witches who have menacing and corrupting powers. Facing her worst fears, she makes big sacrifices and will not stop for anything until she retrieves the stone.

Will Aye Mi ever doubt the value of what is unexpectedly discovered along the way?

• Deliverance 2007

• The box of desires

  Dhamma Pictures has the pleasure to presents to you the uploading of our latest movie : "The box of desires". Quality Full HD. Don't forget to activate the English subtitles ("CC" button right & above the screen under Youtube). "The box of desires" is a love story beetwen two Myanmar teenagers who try to meditate in order to get a pure heart.

• The taste of the Dhamma

  It's good enough to experience this taste only once…

It's enough to know its flavour one single time…

Yati, 14 year old, is accused to be a witch because she knows many things that's usually impossible to know. Otherwise, she prodided powerful potions which have unwishable effects. Phu Phu, who accuses Ko Saing to make her drink a potion, had herself strange behaviors before to get the potion. In order to clarify this affair full of intrigues, the teacher organise a judgment with the three teenagers. Therefore, the most important will be to know how to find an antidote, the only one which is efficient…

This movie is offered to all. We − which include PDO's school's children of Mandalay − would appreciate that it been LIKED and SHARED. One clic is so easy. ; )

One may find a small collection of other movies and documentaries (not all really Dhamma Dana) here: "Buddhist" Documentary films - "Buddhistische" Dokumentarfilme

Not many are watched, so there no quality garanty can be given at large.

[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]

Adding the classic Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.

No one mentioned what I take to be the single best movie of Buddhism ever made - Enlightenment Guaranteed!

Hilarious, to the point, and honest.

Books:

-Hesse's Siddhartha is interesting, but it is not an account of the Buddha himself. It touches on elements of Buddha dharma, but can be somewhat confusing in its intermingling of dharma and Hindu Advaita

-I highly recommend Deathbed Sutra of the Buddha, but then again, I am the author, so I have a bit of a bias!

Film:

-Kundun, for Tibetan Buddhism

-The Buddha (PBS production)...with some annoying cartoon segments

-Little Buddha

-The Tibetan Book of the Dead - the version narrated by Leonard Cohen. Available on Netflix, and quite good in the sense of a not being too "Hollywoodish"

-The Fountain: philosophically, it's a bit of a mess, but it's an entetaining story that explores key Buddhist themes such as impermanence, self, and suffering. Great acting (Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz), directiong by Aronofsky, very "trippy" special effects,

Osamu Tezuka's Buddha is really fun manga and fictional account of Buddha's life. Also check out Ikkyu... awesome manga about Zen and sudden realization! Gave me chills when I really put myself into his journey...

A good movie that fictionally demonstrates some Buddhist concepts is Cloud Atlas. Samsara is another good one. There are plenty of lists (I've only seen the top three) online.

Here's a list of films carrying the Buddhist philosophy, most of them are arthouse.

• Rash*m*n (1950)- Akira Kurosawa
• Ikiru (1952) - Akira Kurosawa
• Ugetsu (1953)- Kenji Mizoguchi
• Sansho the Bailiff (1954)- Kenji Mizoguchi
• The Burmese Harp (1956) - Kon Ichikawa
• Onibaba (1964)- Kaneto Shindo
• Kwaidan (1965) - Masaki Kobayashi
• A Touch of Zen (1971) - King Hu
• Baraka (1992) - Ron Fricke
• Passage to Buddha (1993) - Hwa-Om-Kyung
• The Cup (1999) - Khyentse Norbu
• Samsara (2001) - Pan Nalin
• Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010) - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
• The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013) - Isao Takahata

My favorite Buddhist films:

• Zen (2009)
• Un Buda (2005)
• Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (1989)
• 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama (2006)
• Peace is Every Step (1998)

If you want to find more one way is to click on the links above and look under "People who liked this also liked..."

Also there are these organizations:

• Buddhist Film Foundation
• Thus Have I Seen

The Buddhist Film Foundation is working on an archive of Buddhist films but at the time of writing i couldn't find anything public

Hope this answer helps you and others

Book: The Dalai Lama's Cat by David Mitchie. A fictional story told by a cat, who is the Dalai Lama's pet at Dharamsala. The Dalai Lama rescued this cat when it was very young. The entertaining story told by the cat is imbued with dhamma teachings. The teachings are of course expounded in a simple way, since a cat is a not a very intelligent animal.

Some movies with Buddhist concepts:

1. Cloud Atlas.
2. Little Buddha.
3. Kundun
4. The Dharma Brothers (Documentary)
5. The Buddha (Documentary)
6. Spring,Summer,Fall,Winter..and Spring.
7. Why has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East.
8. Wheel of Time
9. Doin Time Doing Vippassanna (Documentary)
10. Angulimala
11. OK Baytong
12. Amongst WHite Clouds (Documentary)
13. Amrapali
14. My Reincarnation (Documentary)
15. The Holy Man (Comedy)
16. WHen the Iron Bird Flies (Documentary)
17. Milarepa
18. Nang Nak (Horror)It's a thai story about a hungry ghost whose still attached to her husband.

Some more of such referees can be found in: Depictions of Gautama Buddha in film