MONK WITH A CAMERA: The Life and Journey of Nicholas Vreeland, the latest documentary by Guido Santi and Tina Mascara (Chris & Don: A Love Story), will open on November 21 at The Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center in New York City, and the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles on December 12, and expanding to other national markets in the following weeks.  

Nicholas (Nicky) Vreeland, the grandson of legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, walked away from a worldly life of privilege to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk in 1972.  He moved to India, cut his ties with his pleasure-filled world, and began living in a monastery with no running water or electricity. There, he would spend the next 14 years studying to become a monk.

Featuring up-close conversations with actor Richard Gere, his Holiness the Dalai Llama, and Vreeland’s Buddhist teacher Khylongla Rinpoche, among many others, MONK WITH A CAMERA gracefully chronicles Nicky Vreeland’s cultural and spiritual journey, as well as his lifelong (and often conflicting) relationship with photography.

Trained early on by famed American photographer Irving Penn, Nicky Vreeland developed a sophisticated aesthetic and was on a path to become a world-class photographer himself. But once a monk, he abandoned his cameras to focus on his studies and devote himself to a monastic life.  

Yet, in an ironic twist of fate, Nicky went back to photography in part to help rebuild the monastery after the 2008 economic crisis left them without much-needed financial assistance. Recently, the Dalai Lama appointed Nicky as Abbot of the monastery, making him the first Westerner in Tibetan Buddhist history to attain such a highly regarded position. MONK WITH A CAMERA: The Life and Journey of Nicholas Vreeland chronicles Nicky’s journey from playboy to monk to artist.