Tibet: Cry of the Snowlion
Shot over 10 years, this feature length documentary provides a moving and in depth look at the Tibetan people’s struggle for freedom over the past 50 years. While SFT does not have this new film on video yet, you can contact the film makers directly to inquire about screening this incredible documentary. Just click here.
Leaving Fear Behind
A heroic film shot by Tibetans from inside Tibet, who longed to bring Tibetan voices to the Beijing Olympic Games. With the global spotlight on China as it rises to host the XXIX Olympics, Tibetans wish to tell the world of their plight and their heartfelt grievances against Chinese rule. The footage was smuggled out of Tibet under extraordinary circumstances. The filmmakers were detained soon after sending their tapes out, and remain in detention today.
Dreaming Lhasa
Dreaming Lhasa, by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, is the first internationally recognised Tibetan feature film to explore the contemporary reality of Tibet. Although set among the exile community in India, the story it tells has resonances beyond just the Tibetan experience. It touches upon the larger questions of cultural identity, dislocation and loss that are very much a part of today’s post-modern world.
www.dreaminglhasa.com
Windhorse
The first-ever Tibetan made feature film, Windhorse illustrates the complexity of life in contemporary Tibet through the story of one family. Shot in Nepal and clandestinely in Tibet, Windhorse explores the themes of resistance, collaboration, repression, courage, hope and love in Chinese-occupied Tibet. Buy a the DVD of Windhorse from New Yorker Films. Click here.
Tibet’s Stolen Child
“Tibet’s Stolen Child” is a documentary film on the Panchen Lama. A young boy, thePanchen Lama, is the center of a swirling storm of international controversy. Identified by the Dalai Lama as one of Tibet’s most important spiritual leaders, this child was kidnapped by the Chinese government just days after the Dalai Lama’s announcement.
Compelling personal accounts by six Nobel Peace Laureates and others, show how this is not only a story of Tibet and a small boy… it is a story of the world. 60 minute and 12 minute versions available.
Dreaming of Tibet
In isolated communities around the world, Tibetan exiles have created a ‘virtual Tibet,’ where they have endured and even flourished in the face of overwhelming adversity. Dreaming of Tibet follows their arduous journeys into exile over a 19,000 foot Himalayan pass. It’s a flight the Dalai Lama took in 1958 and over 150,000 of his followers have since taken. Most have only minimal clothing and meager provisions to make the life threatening trek. Many die along the way.
Dreaming of Tibet is a film about the resilience of the human spirit. It’s an intimate look at three Tibetan exiles, who, although they appear to be living ordinary lives, are deeply involved in working for the survival of their culture.
Compassion in Exile
An intimate portrait of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, whose 30 year nonviolent struggle on behalf of his people earned him the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize. It is also a moving look at the brutal treatment endured by the Tibetan people at the hands of the Communist Chinese. This also features never-before-seen footage of Tibet. Produced by Lemle Pictures, Inc. in association with Central Productions Ltd.
Red Flag Over Tibet
Historical overview of the Tibetan situation with special emphasis on the takeover in 1949, 1950, and the Chinese military occupation. Produced by Stephen McMillan and Robert Davidson.
Satya: A Prayer for the Enemy
28 min. A film about Tibetan Buddhist nuns persecuted by Chinese authorities for speaking out about Tibetan independence, with personal testimonies. Produced by Ellen Bruno, 1993
Tibet: A Case to Answer
45 min. Shot within Tibet under very difficult and dangerous circumstances by Vanya Kewley, a British journalist, who had prepared for three years to slip away from a Chinese-controlled tour. In six weeks she took 160 interviews while travelling across much of Tibet, with monks, nuns, and political prisoners who risked further punishments by speaking out. First-hand accounts of famine, torture, forced abortion, and footage of the exploitation of Tibetan natural resources. Produced by Vanya Kewley, BBC, 1988.
Tibet: A Culture in Exile
23 min. An excellent concise compilation of materials on Tibet’s cultural destruction, while blending interviews with the Dalai Lama, scholars, Western diplomats, and images of Tibetan life in exile. Produced by the Office of Tibet.
Cultural Destruction of Tibet
25 min. A dark, dreary picture of prisons, and the destruction of monasteries. Emphasis on the population transfer of Chinese.
Jokhang Footage: March 5, 1988
15 min. The footage seen in so many documentaries since 1988 of Chinese security forces attacking unarmed Tibetan monks. Shot by the Chinese security cameras around the Jokhang during the 1988 demonstrations in Lhasa and sumggled out of China. The clearest example of the violent oppression of the Chinese occupation, also showing destruction of many buildings.
Tibet: Murder in the Snow
In an incident that shocked the world, a teenage Tibetan nun, Kelsang Namtso, was killed when Chinese border police opened fire on a group of pilgrims as they fled Tibet over the infamous Nangpa Pass. The shooting was witnessed by many international mountain climbers, some of whom video taped or photographed the events and also helped rescue survivors and sent the story out to the world.
Using the original climber footage, reenactments and interviews with witnesses and survivors, Tibet: Murder in the Snow tells us of young Tibetans who risk their lives each year to illegally cross the rugged Himalaya Mountains in an attempt to see their spritual leader, the Dalai lama, or attend school in India.
March 10 holds a special significance in the hearts of all Tibetans as on this day, 51 years ago, Tibet experienced one of the bloodiest massacre in the history of our struggle. Thousands of innocents and nonviolent protesters were killed by the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) in Lhasa. The day also signifies Tibetan people’s resistance against Chinese occupation of Tibet when thousands of Tibetans gathered infront of the Potala palace to guard the Dalai Lama and defy the foreign occupation.
