Tibetan Film Festival begins in New Delhi on 22 December
Monday, 17 December 2007, 5:15 p.m.
Dharamshala: A collection of sterling films on Tibet, made by world’s leading directors, will hit the screen in New Delhi during a week-long Tibetan Film Festival, organised jointly by the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Habitat Film Club.
Starting on 22 December, the festival will open with “Kundun”, a classic film narrating the life story of the young Dalai Lama by Martin Scorsese, followed by sterling series of films, including, Sacred Sites of Dalai Lama – a pilgrimage in Tibet, award winning 10 Questions for The Dalai Lama, Himalaya and Destroyer of Illusion & Spirit of Tibet.
Martin Scorcesse’s “Kundun” is a spiritual and deeply moving film on His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Preaching peace and understanding among all people, His Holiness the Dalai Lama eventually travels to China to meet Chairman Mao Tse Tung, to no avail. In a heartbreaking decision, His Holiness the Dalai Lama must decide whether to remain in Tibet and fight for his people or flee his homeland and avert almost certain death.
“10 Questions for The Dalai Lama” – a Grand Festival Award Winner at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival by Rick Ray contains rare historical footage as well as footage taken inside Tibet. It is a story is woven between a journeyman’s personal observations, and the life and wisdom of one of the premiere spiritual leaders of our time.
“Sacred Sites of The Dalai Lama – a pilgrimage in Tibet” by Michael Wiese explores the caves, where the early Buddhist masters meditated, enters the monasteries where His Holiness the Dalai Lamas and others taught, and – at an altitude of over 16,000 feet – looks down into the famous oracle lake of Lhamo Lhatso where every Dalai Lama has had prophetic visions.
Eric Valli’s Himalaya – Oscar Nominee, Best Foreign Film was filmed over seven months in the forbidding Dolpo region of Nepal. The Himalaya tells the story of a generational struggle for the leadership of a tiny mountain village between its proud old chief and a headstrong young caravaner. The balance of power shifts uneasily as they make their annual salt trek across the Himalayas.
In “Destroyer of Illusion & Spirit of Tibet”, Richard Gere narrates as the filmmaker offers a glimpse into a mystical and rarely seen side of the Tibetan tradition and of one of the world’s greatest living saints.
“Cry of the Snow Lion” brings audiences to the long-forbidden “rooftop of the world” with an unprecedented richness of imagery from rarely-seen rituals in remote monasteries, to horse races with Khamba warriors, to magnificent Himalayan peaks still traveled by nomadic yak caravans.