For the first time since is conception in 2003 the International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF) arrives in London tonight, bringing with it an impressive 48 films from 18 countries, including 27 UK premieres.

Featuring directors such as Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen and Bernado Bertolucci, and starring actors including Ewan MacGregor, Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker, the festival, which will run at the Barbican Centre until Sunday, May 17, showcases an incredible selection of films, documentaries and shorts that inspire a new world perspective on Buddhist ideals and inspirations.

Executive director Gaetano Kazuo Maida says: “Our mission is to find audiences for films that we feel have something to offer about Buddhist ideas, especially about the wide range of cultures and practices that have emerged from this 2,500 year old tradition.”

Gaetano, whose own film, Peace Is Every Step, will be shown at the festival, explains the ideals the IBFF promotes are particularly pertinent in today’s society.

“There is nothing really new about Buddhist ideas of impermanence, interdependence, compassion, suffering and personal transformation, but in a year of deep economic crisis and gloom about the world, this festival is exactly what we need. It will encourage everyone to take a close look at the philosophies that drive them and their lifestyle choice – it’s the perfect opportunity to question exactly what makes us happy.”

Each year, filmmakers from across the globe are invited to submit their films for consideration for the IBFF, while the select committee also work with national film archives on three continents to find “compelling films about the past that have not received recognition or audience appreciation beyond their borders”.

With such a rich and varied programme, it is with understandable reluctance that Gaetano picks out a few festival highlights, starting with the opening night gala screening of The Light of Asia, “a 1925 silent masterpiece filmed on location in India”, which will be supported by a live performance of an original Indian score.

Among others, the director also suggests the UK premiere of The Devotion of Matthieu Ricard, which will be attended both by the filmmakers and subject; a rare presentation of one of only two Korean films to survive the Korean War, Hometown of the Heart, and the UK premiere of Sri Lankan film Uppalavanna, set in a Buddhist nunnery during a time of conflict.

The IBFF will also incorporate two special feature programming strands – Mind The Gap, which features three films (Donnie Darko, Dead Man and Stay) that “seem to explore the Tibetan Buddhist concept of the bardo – the gap between death and rebirth” and Profiles, which examines Buddhist ideals through the works of well-known artist including Philip Glass, Meredith Monk and Leonard Cohen.

Summing up what the festival has to offer, Gaetano concludes: “We hope that audiences come away with an appreciation for life of others, for the planet, and for themselves as agents of change and their own happiness.”

IBFF is presented as part of The Many Faces of Buddism at the Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, from Thursday, May 7, until Sunday, May 17. Details: www.barbican.org.uk