EXCLUSIVE: UK seller WestEnd has acquired world rights to Max Pugh’s Interbeing, the first official documentary biopic of Thich Nhat Hanh, the legendary Vietnamese Zen master and peace activist, known as the father of the mindfulness meditation movement.
Benedict Cumberbatch narrates the documentary, with testimonials from Oscar-winning filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu and Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres, an architect of the Paris Climate Accord.
The film starts principal photography in September 2025 and will shoot in the US, Vietnam, France and Africa.
Eve Schoukroun and Nick Francis of the UK’s Speakit produce, while Marc J Francis acts as an executive producer. Marc Benioff, Chade-Meng Tan, Paul and Annie Mahon are co-financing the project.
France-UK filmmaker Pugh previously collaborated with WestEnd Films on Walk With Me, which premiered at SXSW in 2017, and followed the Buddhist Plum Village monastery in the south of France co-founded by Nhat Hanh.
Nhat Hanh died in 2022.
“Thich Nhat Hanh changed my perspective on life,” said Cumberbatch. “Lending my voice to his poetry was necessary. His teachings are not only timeless, they are more urgently needed now than ever before.”
WestEnd founder Maya Amsellem noted she was “thrilled to be working again with Speakit – they bring bold visually engaging storytelling to the screen. Interbeing is an inspiring story of our time, successfully weaving themes of spirituality, mental health and activism in a world that needs an alternative to the many crises we currently see unfolding.”
“I’m honoured to be working on the film,”added Germaine Franco, who composed the score for the film. ”Thich Nhat Hanh has profoundly changed my life. His universal messages of mindfulness, ecological responsibility, and kindness resonate deeply with me. Through sitting with his teachings, listening, and walking mindfully in his presence, I’ve learned to slow down and live more tenderly.”
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