FILMS AND VIDEOS ON TIBET
Last updated: 1 September 2008
This list is maintained by A. Tom Grunfeld ( TOM.GRUNFELD@ESC.EDU ). It was begun many years ago (in the early 1990s?) by Sonam Dargyay and others have contributed since. I welcome - and encourage - any contributions of ideas, suggestions for changes, corrections and, of course, additions. All the information I have available to me is on this list so please do not ask if I have any additional information because I don't. I have seen only a few of the films on this list and, therefore, cannot vouch for everything that is said about them. Whenever possible I have listed the source of the information. I will update this list as I receive additional information so checking it periodically would be prudent.
This list has no copyright; I gladly share it with whomever wants to use it. I would appreciate, however, an acknowledgment when the list, or any part, of it is used.
The following represents a resource list of films and videos on Tibet. For more information about acquiring these films, contact the distributors directly.
Office of Tibet, 241 E. 32nd Street, New York, NY 10016 (212-213-5010)
Wisdom Films (Wisdom Publications no longer sells these films. If anyone knows the address of the company that now sells these films, or how to get in touch with them, I would appreciate it if you could let me know. Many, but not all, of their films are sold by Meridian Trust.)
Meridian Trust, 330 Harrow Road, London W9 2HP (01-289-5443)http://www.meridian-trust/.org
Mystic Fire Videos, P.O. Box 422, Prince Street Station, New York, NY 10012 (212-941-0999)http://www.mysticfire.com/index.html
Snow Lion, P. O. Box 6483, Ithaca, NY 14851 (800-950-0313) http://www.snowlionpub.com/
Films for the Humanities & Sciences, P.O. Box 2053, Princeton, NJ 08543-2053 (609-275-1400;http://www.films.com )
The New York Times published an article on 19 March 2000 entitled "In Current Films on Tibet, Hold the Shangri-La" by Barbara Stewart which accurately depicts the historical and cultural distortions in films about Tibet. It also discusses the gap between the real Tibet and the Hollywood images which are accurate depictions of what Americans want Tibet to have been. The New York Times will only allow me to post the article on this web site if I pay them $200 a year. This was an offer I could easily decline. If you want to read the article you can get it from a database or e-mail me.
A. Tom Grunfeld
______________________________________________________________________________
The National Film and Television Archive at the British Film Institute (London) has films made by British diplomats in Tibet. These include films by F. M. Bailey (РTibet circa 1928"), Charles Bell, Spencer Chapman, Basil Gould, James Guthrie, and George Sherriff. The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford holds some films by Spencer Chapman although there is only a little from Tibet. During 6 months in Lhasa Chapman took 2500 still photographs, 13,000 feet of 35-mm film, 6,000 feet of 16-mm film Kodachrome color film along with 6,000 16-mm black and white film. Leslie Weir’s films are in private hands; probably his family, see “Joanna Lumley below. Frederick Williamson’s films are in the Cambridge University Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. The Liverpool Museum also has some Tibet films but they are not catalogued.
A few films were made by Tibetans, Tsarong and Jigme Taring, in the 1940s and they survive in private collections in the US and India.
See “Tibetan Horizon: Tibet and Cinema in the Early Twentieth Century,” by Peter H. Hansenin Imagining Tibet. Perceptions, Projections, and Fantasies, edited by Thierry Dodin and Heinz Rather (Wisdom Publications, 2001).
Chinese television programs are available on the CCTV-9 channel web site, ChinaМs state
television English language station: http://www.cctv.com/english/index.shtml
The Tibetan administration in India also has a TV channel which can be accessed at:
1. “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama”
Film by former Lonely Planet backpacker turned cinematographer, writer and director, Rick Ray.
“Based around an interview with his Holiness the Dalai Lama, Rick Ray has created a film that explores some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together the experience of his own journey throughout India and the wisdom of this exceptional man.” [producers]
Rick Ray, 816 W. Figueroa St. #C, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, (818) 359-4035, Fax: 805-884-6140, email: rick@dvarchive.com, Web site: http://rickrayfilms.com
2. "16 Barkhor South Street"
Directed by Duan Jinchuan
Highlights the role of the Neighborhood Committee of Barkhor Street around the Jokhang Monastery in dispute settlement and policy implementation. Grand Price Winner le prix du Cineel Cinema du Reel, 1997.
100 minutes, 1996 (Chinese with English subtitles). Available from the International Campaign for Tibet.
3."A Buddhist Monk--The Dalai Lama of Tibet: Eleven Days in England"
Directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam.
Personal profile of His Holiness presenting him in his various roles as Buddhist teacher, international spokesman for peace and exiled leader of the Tibetan people.
Wisdom Films , 1988, 40 minutes. $32.00. Also Meridian Trust.
4.* “A Butter Lamp at the Foot of the Snow Mountains”
Producers: Tashi Tsering and Kungpu Dunchun
A 30 minute documentary made for China Central Television and shown on CCTV 9 in English. An overly melodramatic depiction of the Tashi Tsering’s efforts in recent years to build private schools and encourage education in Tibet. His early years (including prison during the Cultural Revolution) are glossed over or omitted. Tashi himself heaps praise on the Chinese Communist Party which, I assume, has to do with ingratiating himself with the authorities so they will continue to allow him to do what he is doing. Best seen after having read his autobiography: The Struggle for Modern Tibet. [Grunfeld]
2005 (?)
5.* "A Conversation with the Dalai Lama"
ABC-TV Nightline, 13 September 1995. Interviewed by Ted Koppel.
Approx. 22 minutes.
6. “A Guest of Life - Alexander Csoma de KÖrÖs”
Directed by Tibor Szemz
Csomo was a Hungarian from Transylvania who went to central Asia in the 19th century in search of the roots of the Hungarian people. He became an expert on Tibet. He died in 1842, at the age of fifty-eight, in the Himalayas near today's border between India and China.
“The poor scholar was one of our century's great, original pioneers. As a student, before he started university, together with two other fellow-students, he solemnly vowed to devote his life to the task of penetrating Central Asia in quest of the origin of his nation. In the first thirty-five years of his life he prepared himself for the task in Europe, and during the next twelve years he travelled around as a pilgrim in Asia or lived a life of solitude and privation in the cold of Tibet, learning from Buddhist monks. He spent the remaining eleven years of his life publishing in India parts of the material he had collected himself. [...] His fate was typical of scholarly pioneers. Someone else reaped the rewards of his efforts. To the scholars of his century Csoma was an obscure, Transylvanian figure, abandoned among the Himalayan hills-however, from the summits a giant cast its shadow on Central Asia.” (W.W. Hunter)
This Hungarian film is largely an poetic attempt to conjure up the mysteries of the “inscrutable” Himalayan region. Philosophical musing are heard in multiple languages which are rarely, if ever, translated into English. There is an English narration but it’s mostly a visual experience (unless one understands the multiple languages) dramatized by animated illustrations and scenes from present-day India shot in a manner which reminded me of hand-colored postcards of a century ago. You will learn very little of Csomo and nothing at all about Tibet. [Grunfeld]
79 minutes, 2006.
7. "A Guide to Walking Meditation"
By Thich Nhat Hanh
"Thich Nhat Hanh instructs a group of students in the joys of this simple practice. His underlying theme: Be happy, peaceful, and serene." [Snow Lion]
Snow Lion, 30 minutes. Also Mystic Fire Video and Meridian Trust. $32.00
8. “A Hundred Phoenixes Face the Sun” (Bai feng chao yang)
Chinese film directed by Chen Huaikai. 1959.
9. "A Kind Heart"
Traditional introduction to Buddhism given at Caxton Hall, London in 1982 by the Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, debate partner and assistant tutor to the Dalai Lama.
Meridian Trust, 60 minutes, color. $35.00.
10. “A lags rtsu gu” (A lags rtsib bu'i 'os longs)
Chinese Central TV and Gansu TV, 1980s
The history of Tibet’s “liberation;” in the 1940s. The Chinese Communist Party vs the Goumindang in Amdo.
Several episodes in Tibetan. Robbie Barnett collection.
11. “A Life for Tibet - The XIV Dalai Lama”
Friedhelm BrÜckner Production,
A “docufilm” premiered in Weisbaden, Germany on 4 June 2005.
12. “A Man Called Nomad”
Alex Gabbay
“What makes a nomad? Is it his land, his herd or is it just his heart? What if his land is fenced, his movements restricted? What if he has to live in town? Can he still be a nomad? What happens to his land? His herd? His heart?
Through the story of Choegatar, a 30-year old nomad living in North Eastern China, "A Man Called Nomad" explores the dilemmas of a modern nomad caught between traditional nomadic life and the changing world around him.” [producers]
39 min
13. "A Man of Peace"
Produced by the Meridian Trust and the Office of Information and International Relations (England/India)
"In 1989 His Holiness was awarded the Nobel Peace price and in December went to Oslo for the award ceremony. Whilst there he also visited Trondheim, Bergen and the Arctic region Samiland. This documentary is an intimate portrayal of His Holiness, capturing his warmth, wisdom, compassion and humor. Includes excerpts from the award ceremony and His Holiness' speech and a reindeer-drawn sled ride." [producers]
Meridian Trust. 40 minutes. $32.00
14. "A Monk's Voice"
Directed and produced by Montreal film maker Nathalie Ducharme with the collaboration of Sylvie Alex-Lortie
"This film, told through the story of one very special Tibetan monk documents the firm grasp Tibetans still hold on their culture. For half of a century, Tibet has been under the shadow of Chinese rule. Despite Chinese attempts to oppress all glimpses of Tibetan culture, Tibetans have tenaciously maintained their heritage. Though banished to India, this very special monk actively and optimistically works to preserve his religion, his people and Tibet itself." [Producers]
For more information: BIG DEAL PRODUCTIONS, Tel.: (514) 947-9155, -bigdealprod@sympatico.ca
15. “A Necklace” (Yi chuan xianglian)
Chinese film directed by Wu Can. 1966.
16. “A Nomad’s Life”
Directors: Lynn True, Nelson Walker;
Producers: Keefe Murren, Tsering Perlo, Lynn True, Nelson Walker
“A young Tibetan family questions whether their nomadic traditions can survive against the challenges of a rapidly modernizing world.” [producers]
2008, 9 min. Available at http://snagfilms.com/films/title/media_that_matters_8_a_nomads_life/
17. “A Red Star Over Tibet”
Canadian film produced by Robert Davidson and Stephen McMillan. 1989. 60 minutes. Could be the same as “Red Flag Over Tibet;” see below.
18. "A Refugee Story In India"
Produced and distributed by the United States Information Agency.
A high-ranking Buddhist monk Ngawang Thuthop, who has fled from Chinese persecution in Tibet, describes hardships under communism. A resume of the stand of Tibet's people against the communists and the flight of refugees into India is given.
1965
19.* "A Review of the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet"
Central News and Documentary Films Film Productions, People's Republic of China
Directed by Gu Jiangming and Zha Xi
Some interesting historic footage and China's case for Tibet having been an "integral part" of China for centuries. Otherwise, a rather crude propaganda film complete with stirring background music and happy natives singing and dancing. [Grunfeld]
(1991?) 60 minutes
20. “A Song for Tibet”
Produced by National Film Board of Canada & Arcady Productions. Directed by Anne Henderson
“...chronicles the struggle for Tibet's liberation through the eyes of two Tibetan Canadians, both
passionately committed to the cause. They go to North India, meet recently escaped Tibetans and
hear of the horrors happening in their country, including torture, imprisonment and forced
abortion...They return to Canada for the first visit by H. H. the Dalai Lama and the prevailing
western attitude is encapsulated in the indifference of the Canadian government...” [producers]
1991, 56 minutes 41 seconds. Available from the National Film Board of Canada (http://www.onf.ca/cgi-bin/sireindex?ti) Also Meridian Trust.
21. "A Stranger in my Native Land"
Produced by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, 1998
"...a vivid personal account of loss and disappointment as an exile discovers his country for the first time. Late in 1996 Tenzing Sonam, an award-winning Tibetan film-maker born and brought up in exile, made his first visit to his homeland. He was accompanied by his wife, Ritu Sarin, a noted Indian film maker..Together the two film-makers travel from Kumbum...to Lhasa." [producers]
33 minutes, video. $195 cmil@uclink.berkeley.edu
22. “A Tibetan New Year”
Produced by Jon Jerstad
“This programme documents the Tibetan New Year celebrations carried out by the monks of the
only Bonpo community outside Tibet, located in the foothills of the Himalayas. This magnificent
mountain scenery provides a dramatic background as the programme shows the preparations and
enactment of the annual ceremony with the monks and local villagers performing the various
rituals.” [producers]
Wisdom Films, 43 minutes. $44.00. Also Meridian Trust.
23. "A Tribute to a Lama: Thubten Yeshe 1935-1984"
"Lama Yeshe was a major influence in the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West and this short tribute includes excerpts from his teachings and some informal moments." [producers]
Wisdom Films, approx. 60 minutes
24. “A Tribute to Naropa & His Lineage: The Sight-Liberating Naropa Ceremony in 2004"
“HH The Twelfth Gyalwang Drupka and his predecessors are revered as incarnations of the 11thcentury mystic Naropa. This video documents events around a ceremony in which His Holiness puts on the priceless Six Bone Ornaments of Naropa.” [producers]
Snow Lion, video $24.95
25. “A Year in Tibet”
“Seven Stones Media has obtained unprecedented access to film a landmark documentary series in Tibet. Commissioned by BBC 4 and distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide, A Year in Tibet follows a calendar year inside the secret confines of a Tibetan monastery and charts the lives of those living in Gyanste the small town which surrounds it and surrounding villages. The 5 x 1hr series examines the reality of life today for Tibetans living under Chinese rule.
Seven Stones' Executive Producer, Adam Alexander said: "Getting under the skin of Tibetan society and filming for a year amongst a deeply religious community and with the people who surround the monastery has not only been a huge logistical challenge, but a unique opportunity to
explore one of the last outposts of a once medieval society and how it now has to survive as part of modern China."
A Year in Tibet was commissioned for BBC 4 by Richard Klein, and it is a co-production between Seven Stones Media and Mosaic Films. The series is written and produced and directed in the cutting room by Peter Firstbrook with Sun Shuyun as location director. It will air on
BBC 4 in Spring 2008. [WTN] World Tibet News - February 21, 2008]
26. “Ab nach Tibet!” (Off to Tibet)
Director: Herbert Achternbusch
1994, 128 minutes. In German.
27. “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls”
Directed by Steve Oedekerk
Starring Jim Carrey
“We also get a conglomeration of Tibet cliches...Ace retires to a monastery high up in the mountains of Tibet, where he is finding his peace and meditating in Tibetan monk’s robes while butterflies flutter about his head, on which he wears a Tibetan monk’s hat. In this “enlightened” state [he is asked to do something and can’t decide so] he recalls the Tibetan abbot. Sinking into meditation he, or rather his “aura,” rushes at great speed to Tibet. Floating in the air, Ace asks the abbot for advice; he seems to know everything, as befits a Tibetan monk.”
Martin Brauen, Dreamworld Tibet. Western Illusions , translated by Martin Willson (Trumbull, CT: Weatherhill, Inc., 2004), p. 154.
USA, 1995, 94 minutes
28. “Aid to Tibet: In the Land of Khampas”
Produced by the London charity, The Tibet Foundation to document its projects in education, healthcare and economic development.
2006. 35 minutes
29. "Alexandra David-Neel: One Women's Journey"
"Born in France in 1868, Alexandra David-Neel was the first woman to be granted the title of Lama in Tibet. During her miraculous 100 years, she traveled extensively through Asia, especially in the Himalayas, where she followed an incredible spiritual path. Using spectacular archival footage, this program traces that path from her early careers as a philosopher and novelist, to her later vocation as a Buddhist monk. We also become privy to her two years as a hermit in the Himalayas, and to her secret pilgrimage to the holy city of Lhasa..." [Catalogue]
Available from Films for the Humanities & Sciences, US$89.95.
30. “All of Me”
Director: Carl Reiner
Full-fledge Hollywood comedy. “Rich but sick millionnarie Edwina Cutwater feels her untimely death coming up. She never could enjoy life, as she was either in a wheelchair or in bed, so she decided to take a chance: Prahka Lasa, a Tibetan master of meditation, should transfer her soul into the body of Terry Hoskins, whose soul therefore will become one with the universe. Accidentally, her soul is transferred into the body of her unliked lawyer Roger Cobb, whose soul remains in his body. Now, Edwina has control about the right half of Roger's body, his soul about only the left half. They struggle together to get her soul into the right body, but not without having some conflicts between themselves to solve.”http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086873/plotsummary
USA. 1984. 93 minutes.
31. "Altruism and World Affairs"
The Dalai Lama speaks in Washington, DC in April 1999 on "...compassion in the modern world and how cultivating an altruistic attitude in oneself can effect the larger scenario." [producers]
Meridian Trust. 60 minutes. $35.00
32.* “Amanpour Reports: Buddha’s Warriors”
Christiane Amanpour, CNN Senior International Corresopondent
Documentary about Buddhist monks becoming engaged in political affairs in Burma and Tibet. Mostly about Tibet, probably because there is more video footage and the Dalai Lama is interviewed. Not terribly well-informed. [Grunfeld]
2008, about 50 minutes
33. “Amazing Marriage Customs”
Chinese film.
34. "Amchis: The Forgotten Healers of the Himalayas"
Anoko Production , ARTE , Poise Chiche
"Zanskar is a valley tucked between the steep mountains on the border of the Himalayas, at an altitude of 3,700 meters. In each village in this remote area of the world, there is a traditional Tibetan medicine man named the "Amchi." Since the beginning of time, the Amchi has passed his knowledge down from father to son, or from teacher to student. With the construction of a new road, however, the valley was left vulnerable to the outside world. Since then, the younger generation has rejected the age-old wisdom and practices of the Amchi, embracing more modern, lucrative activities instead. As a result, these forgotten healers of the Himalayas are perhaps the last to practice Tibetan medicine. "[producers]
2001, 52 minutes. Filmakers Library, $350 to buy and $75 to rent.
35. “Amongst White Clouds-Chinese Masters of the Zhongnan Mountains”
Directed by Edward Burger
“American director Edward A. Burger takes us on his unforgettable journey into the hidden lives of China's forgotten Zen Buddhist hermit tradition...to look at the lives of zealot students, gaunt ascetics and wise masters living in isolated hermitages dotting the peaks and valleys of China's Zhongnan Mountain range...It is widely thought that this tradition was all but wiped out by the twists and turns of history. "Amongst White Clouds" shows us this is not the case. One of only a few foreigners to have lived and studied with these hidden sages, Burger reveals to us their tradition, their wisdom, and the hardship and joy of their everyday lives. With both humor and compassion, these inspiring and warm-hearted characters challenge us to join them in an exploration of our own suffering and enlightenment in this modern world.” [producers]
http://www.cosmos-pictures.com
36. "An Address to the Tibetan Community in Britain by His Holiness the Dalai Lama"
The Dalai Lama talks about the changing role of the institution of the Dalai Lama in modern times. London, April 1988. (Tibetan language only)
Wisdom Films, 52 minutes. $17.50. Also Meridian Trust.
37. "An Introduction to Buddhist Psychotherapy"
Lecture by Dr. Rabgay, in English, about the relationship between Western psychotherapy and Buddhist philosophy. London, January 1988.
Meridian Trust. 240 minutes. $87.50.
38. "An Overview of Tibetan Buddhism with a Commentary on Bodhicharyavatara"
The Dalai Lama speaking in Methodist Central Hall, Westminister U.K. in June 1988. In three parts: an overview of Tibetan Buddhism, a commentary on Bodhicharyavatara, and a question and answer period.
Meridian Trust. 660 minutes. $157.50.
39. “An Unholy Row”
“An interview by Swiss television with Kalsang Gyaltsen, private secretary to H.H. Dalai Lama concerning the Shugden controversy which has created tensions within the Tibetan Buddhist community.” [producers]
Available from the Tibetan Department of Information and International Relations:
-http://tibetnews/pubs/videos.html
40. "Ancient Futures: Learning From Ladakh"
Produced by John Pope/International Society for Ecology and Culture. 1993.
Details the effects of modernization on traditional life in Ladakh. Based on a book of the same title by Helena Norbert-Hodge, Sierra Club Books.
Video. 59 minutes. 1991. The Video Project. 5332 College Avenue, Suite 101, Oakland, CA 94612.
41. "Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth"
This video "...can show you how to achieve the benefits of the famous Five Tibetan exercises...for anyone of any age to become healthier, younger-looking, more energetic and alive in just minutes a day." [producers]
Snow Lion. $19.95. DVD
42. “And So Tibet”
Director: Seymour Kneitel
Animated film. 1964
43. “Angry Monk - Reflections on Tibet”
(a documentary film on Amdo Gendun Choephel)
Director: Luc Schaedler
Producer: Angry Monk Productions, Luc Schaedler
“Tibet: the mystical roof of the world, peopled with enlightened monks? Only one of them
wouldn't toe the line: Gendun Choephel, the errant monk who left monastic life in 1934 in search
of a new challenge. A free spirit and multifaceted individual, he was far ahead of his time
and has since become a seminal figure, a symbol of hope for a free Tibet. A rebel and voluble
critic of the establishment, Gendun Choephel kindled the anger of the Tibetan authorities.
This cinematic journey through time portrays the life of this unorthodox monk, revealing a face
of old Tibet that goes against popular clichÉs. The film uses an abundance of unique and rare
historical footage available to the general public for the first time. But it does not dwell on the
past; rather it skillfully oscillates between then and now. Archival images of ancient caravans and
monasteries give way to scenes of discos and multi-lane highways in Lhasa where pilgrims
prostrate themselves as they circle the holy temple. ANGRY MONK offers a fascinating insight
into a country whose eventful past is refracted in the multiplicity and contradictions of everyday life.
Ultimately, this road movie also tells the story of a man who left home to search for something
that could have liberated traditional Tibet from its rigidity. An outsider who was always open to
new things, he eventually became a stranger in his homeland and homeless in foreign lands - a
wanderer between worlds.” [producers]
97 minutes. Digital beta and/or 35MM in Tibetan/English with English subtitles.
Distributor: Xenix film distribution, www.xenixfilm.ch tel: +41-44-240 45 42, email:ampinfo@angrymonk.ch , website: www.angrymonkthefilm.ch Available April 2006.
44. “Ao jin ma”
Chinese film directed by Liu Baode and Zhang Qiming.
Takes place in a Tibetan area of Qinghai province. Class struggle wins out.
Xian Film Studio. 1977.
45. “Arising From Flames: Overcoming Anger Through Patience”
H.H. the Dalai Lama talks candidly about his own methods of controlling anger and developing patience. Recorded live in Arizona
1hour video. $ 29.95. Snow Lion.
46. "Arising from Flames: Overcoming Anger Through Patience"
The Dalai Lama speaks of positive and negative desires and how through training we can reduce anger and hatred and increase love and forgiveness.
Mystic Fire Video, 60 minutes, US$29.95.
47. “Art in Exile”
Produced by Nidhi Tuli and Ashraf Abbas
“Tuli and Abbas explore the efforts of the Tibetan community in India to keep their culture identity alive. The film focuses on Dharamsala’s Norbulingka Art Institute, which teaches pure Tibetan art forms and hopes to achieve the seemingly impossible goal of transporting them back to Tibet one day.” [The Tribune, (India) 1 October 2006].
40 minutes
48."Asian-American Boy/Tibetan Monk"
American-made film "...of a 12 year old boy who has lived since age four as a monk in a Tibetan monastery in Kathmandu and is thought to be an incarnation of a high lama." [producers]
27 minutes, 1984.
49. “Aus Tibet - Ein HeimatfilmП (In English as РFrom Tibet: A Film of the Homeland”)
Directors: Lottie Marsau, Katharina Rosa
1996. 105 minutes. In German.
50. "Avalokitesvara: The Dalai Lama in Europe"
Produced and directed by Ulay and Marina Abromovic and Frank Scheffer.
Documentary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's tour of West Germany and Italy in 1982.
Meridian Trust, 40 minutes, color. $35.00.
51. "Bardo"
Produced by Institut Yeunten Ling, Belgium
Interview with the late Ven. Kalu Rinpoche on the teachings related to the period after death.
Meridian Trust, 45 minutes. $44.00.
52. “Basang” (Pasang and her siblings)
Chongqing TV,1980s,
In Chinese, Story by Tashi Dawa. Robbie Barnett collection.
53. “Beautiful Butterflies All Around” (Cai die fen fei)
Chinese film directed by Zhu Jinming in 1964.
54. "Beauty and Beast"
By Tenzin Tseten Choklay, New Delhi
"Documentary on the first ever exile Tibetan beauty pageant held in Dharamsala in October 2002." [Tibetan Review, June 2003, p. 20] Choklay: "There's a huge sense of being uprooted among young people. They're not Indian enough, they've never been to Tibet, they look Tibetan, they don't have Indian accents, but they live in India." [Deccan Herald, 28 September 2003]
12 minutes
55. "Below the Sky - On Earth/ Ploughing in Spiti"
A "Video-Document" by Wolf Kahlen
"May 1988. Below the monastery Kye, 10 000 feet high in Tibetan Spiti in the Himalayan ranges. The valley echoes a rhythmic song and demanding outcries to helping animals. A family of old Tibetan origin ploughs the winter stiff stony earth. Biblical pictures: just below heaven, strongly attached to the ground. The men leading the plough sing a work song as usual in Tibet. Some of those songs relate to the 'Tibetan Leonardo' Thang-stong rGyal-po (see more of Wolf Kahlen's films). Of this one we do not know. Or is this one just another mantric-suggestively repeated bead on the rosary?!
The clod is not easy to break, has to be hacked or smashed from above head down to the ground. The high plateau between the chain of mountain ridges and slopes on both side of the valley is exposed to a strong sun and cold winds: nothing but rocks, stones and dust, all the aggregates of earth. Above all like a crown on a needle pointed rock a monastery, whose cells were added up and attached within several centuries.
Attached ones down here and unattached ones up there, tight together." [sic, film-maker]
1988, 21 min. For more information contact the film-maker: ruine-kuenste.berlin@snafu.de
56. "Beyond Self, Beyond War: Talks on Buddhism and Political Action"
By Robert Zimmerman and John Miglietta
A conference at the Buddhist meditation center in Vermont featuring Allan Ginsberg, Dave Dellinger, David Rome.
Meridian Trust. 60 minutes, $44.00.
57. "Beyond the Forbidden Border"
B/W footage by C. Suydam Cutting on his expedition to Tibet in 1935-1937. Contains glimpses of traditional Tibetan life styles and represents some of the earliest motion picture footage of that country. Included in the film are the city of Lhasa, high government officials, Buddhist ceremonies and striking geographical features of the mountainous countryside.
Newark Museum , 30 minutes, telephone: (201) 596-6550.
58. "Bhutan"
“A colorful, informative look into many aspects of Bhutanese life and culture.” [producers]
Available from the U.N. Mission of Bhutan, New York. 40 minutes.
59. "Bhutan: Land of Peaceful Dragon"
Franz Lavi Films. Germany. 1976. 29 minutes.
Available from the U.N. Mission of Bhutan.
60.* "Bhutan: The Last Shangri-la"
ABC/Kane Productions, 1997, Reader's Digest World: "The Living Edens"
Produced and written by Harry Marshall, Narrated by Donald Sutherland
Superficial travelogue almost exclusively about the land, flora and fauna; Bhutan as perfection on earth. The film is stunningly beautiful with some excellent time-lapse photography. More a nature film than anything else. [Grunfeld]
PBS video. 50 minutes. Available for $19.95 from http://www.pbs.org .
61. "Big Treasure Chest for Future Kids-Tibet”
White Crane Films Co-Production with Faust Film + Projekt, Muenchen-Berlin with the support of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Germany. Produced and directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam.
"A magnificent treasure chest appears at the Tibetan Children's Village in the Himalayan foothills of northern India. The "spirit" of the chest tells the children to think of special gifts and messages to offer to the kids of the future. The children work on their presents. Some make drawings, carve objects, or simply put in everyday items like clothes and books while others record video messages and songs. The film focuses on four children, each of whom has a different story to tell. At the end, the children gather to give their presents to the "spirit" who places them inside the chest. Before disappearing, he tells them that the chest will be reopened only in the year 2050 and invites them to be present at the occasion." [producers]
1999, 26 minutes, Beta SP. http://www.whitecranefilms.com
62. “Bin Shan Xue Lian” (Ice Mountain Snow Lions)
Director: Xiang Liang
The Red Army on the Long March through the Tibetan areas
Emei Film Studio. 1978. In Chinese.
63.* "Biography: The Dalai Lama. The Soul of Tibet"
Produced by CBS News Productions for the Arts and Entertainment Network. Shown 12/26/97.
Nothing unusual; totally favorable. Right out of the Dalai lama's biographies and John Avedon's book. Some historical errors such as saying Gregory Craig, the US Special Coordinator for Tibet, visited Tibet and reported on human rights abuses. In fact, he visited India. No mention of the CIA's involvement, etc. People interviewed include Orville Schell, Robert Thurman, John Avedon, Richard Gere, Alexander Norton, Jonathan Spence, Jeffery Hopkins, Lodi Gyari and Tom Lantos. [Grunfeld]
About 45 minutes. Available for $19.95 plus shipping and handling; call 1-800-423-1212.
64. “Black Narcissus”
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Major UK cinema film starring Deborah Kerr, Sabu, Jean Simmons. Anglican nuns attempt to establish a religious community in the Himalayas, and must battle not only suspicious locals and the elements, but their own demons as well. “Breathtakingly beautiful adaption of the Rumer Godden drama depicting the travails, both physical and emotional, of nuns founding a mission in the Himalayas. The striking color cinematography won the year's Oscar.” [producers]
101 minutes, 1947.
65. “Blindsight”
Directed by Lucy Walker
Produced by Sybil Robson Orr
“Blindsight follows the gripping adventure of six Tibetan teenagers who set out to climb the 23,000 foot Lhakpa Ri on the north side of Mount Everest. A dangerous journey soon becomes a seemingly impossible challenge made all the more remarkable by the fact that the teenagers are blind.” [producers]
2007; http://www.blindsightthemovie.com/
66. "Bringing Buddhism to the West"
"A dialogue with FPMT Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Answers questions concerning problems commonly faced by Western Buddhist centers." (Wisdom) Lama Tsong Khapa Institute, Italy, 1982.
Wisdom Films, approx. 60 minutes.
67. “Bu norbu”
Tibet TV
Tibetan Contemporary household drama. In Tibetan. Robbie Barnett collection.
68. “Budala gong mishi” (Po ta la’i gsang gtam; Secret History of the Potala Palace)
Zhang Yi, Tibetan Regional Theatre Troupe and Emei Films, 1989
A Chinese historic epic of the17th century about the 5th Dalai Lama, the Mongol overlords and his Regent Sangye Gyatso. Banned before release and never shown in Tibet, or anywhere else for that matter.
In Chinese and Tibetan with English subtitles. Robbie Barnett collection.
69. "Buddha From Brooklyn"
Producer: Denise Di Novi, Film-makers: Kristin Hahn, Byron Pickett
Currently in production. "A 'dramady' on the life of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, a Jewish-Italian mother, Alyce Zeoli-Jones, from Brooklyn, who discovers she is a tulku - a reincarnation of a 17th century saint - and goes on to finance her Maryland monastery with the proceeds of a hair-conditioning cap she invents and sells on TV commercials. [Reuters/Variety]
70. "Buddhism in Focus"
"In a video editing studio, a child and a video editor embarks on a journey in sound and pictures which explores Buddhist experience and practice in Britain. (For ages 11 to 15)
Video One: "Buddha's Life and Teaching" contains dramatized explanations of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path and includes a visit to the London Buddhist Learning Center Co-operative.
Video Two: "Buddhist View of Life" visits Theravadin, Tibetan and Western-style centers and investigates Buddhist ceremonies, practices in daily life and traditional ways of teaching. Buddhist Meditation Geshe Namgyal Wangchen, the resident teacher of Manjushri London Center, gives an explanation of the basic techniques involved in meditation, particularly focusing on the practice of samatha, or calm abiding." [Producers]
Meridian Trust/Buddhist Film and Video Archive/Wisdom Publications & PEP. Each video 35 minutes. $44.00 each or $70.00 for both.
71. "Buddhist Meditation"
Geshe Namgyak Wangchen, the resident teacher of Manjushri London Center gives an explanation of the basic techniques involved in meditation, particularly focusing on the practice of samatha, or calm abiding. [producers]
Meridian Trust, 60 minutes, color. 1984. $35.00.
72. "Buddhist Philosophy"
Extensive teachings given by the Dalai Lama at the Camden Centre, London, over three days covering the whole scope of Buddhist philosophy. Translated by Jeffrey Hopkins.
Meridian Trust, 10 hours. color. 1984. $170.00
73. "Buddhism, Wheel Of Time: Storyville"
"A beautifully shot film by the German director Werner Herzog, which captures the atmosphere of a pilgrimage, as he explores the Buddhist Kalachakra. The film moves from the Nepalese/Indian frontier, on pilgrimage to the holy Mount Kailash in Tibet, to Austria. The Dalai Lama is shown praying with the faithful." [producers]
80 minutes, Heritage Buddhist Trust, http://members.aol.com/yeshiuk/index.html
74. "Bulletproof Monk"
Produced by MGM, Hollywood and action director John Woo's company
"...the movie is a turkey. Chow Yun-Fat, the handsome Hong Kong star of many of Woo's HK blockbusters of the '80s and '90s, is a Tibetan monk entrusted with protecting a sacred scroll that can deliver ultimate power for good or evil. He receives the scroll in an isolated monastery in 1943, just as the Nazis come looking for it. They kill all the monks except our hero, who has no name. He falls over a cliff. Struker, the head Nazi (Karel Roden), vows to keep searching.
The movie is loosely adapted from a comic and the scroll is basically the old fountain of youth/infinite power device found in countless movies, notably Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and The Mummy.
Sixty years after the Nazi incident, Mr No Name (looking younger than ever) is in a US city when he meets an American who's probably the next incarnation of the scroll protector. Kar is a pickpocket who learned kung-fu from watching old HK movies. The film's one grace note is the scene where we see him dancing on the roof of the fleapit cinema where he's the projectionist, in perfect unison with a scratchy old kung-fu movie." [By Paul Byrnes, 12 June 2003: -pbyrnes@attglobal.net ]
104 minutes. In English with some German and Tibetan.
75. “Cai Se De Ye” (Colorful Night)
Director: Zhang Youngshou
Drama about the Tibetan Transportation Bureau and political activities therein.
August First Film Studio. 1982. In Chinese.
76. “Call it Karma: The Journey of a Lifetime"
Director, Producer, Writer: Geoff Browne; Producer, Writer: Michael Parker; Producer Shan Tam
“Call it Karma is the inspiring true story about a young Tibetan Monk named Gyalten Rinpoche who in 1995 was sent on a spiritual pilgrimage by his Master to walk 1,000 miles from his remote mountain village. Through the Holy City of Lhasa, starving and exhausted, he makes his way across the rooftop of the world to the impoverished Nepalese villages and into the sacred lands of India.
Nearly six years later, he establishes a Buddhist center in the West and befriends filmmaker Geoff Browne on the streets of Vancouver. Together, they travel back to the RinpocheМs home village where Geoff witnesses an emotional reunion between the Rinpoche, his Master and family. Full circle for the Rinpoche, but just the beginning for Geoff -- as he is now inspired to retell his friend’s remarkable life story.” [producers]
Boundless Light Productions, Geoff Browne geoffbrowne@canadian.com
Tel 604-725-0203, http://www.boundlesslight.com
77. "Cancer and AIDS: The View of Tibetan Medicine"
Dr. Choedak speaks about the historical development of medicine in Tibet and how it is practiced today. "He then discusses how the scriptures prophetically pointed towards the fracturing of society and family relationships as prime causes of modern illness." [producers]
Meridian Trust. 120 minutes. $52.50
78. "Caravan" (also released as "Himalaya")
Directed and written by Eric Valli
Filmed in the Dolpo region of Nepal, French director Valli spent 32 weeks trekking over 1400 km and crossing passes as high as 5,000 meters to realistic trace the route of trading caravans. Using no professional actors, this fictional story depicts "village elder Tinle is enraged when his eldest son dies in an accident and holds the caravan's new leader Karma, responsible. Another caravan is due to set out before winter, but Tinle refuses to let Karma lead it. Karma sets out anyway, well before the shaman's auspicious date. Tinle, determined to assert his authority, enlists his second son Norbu, a Buddhist monk, and sets out at a furious pace to overtake Karma's caravan, choosing some dangerously precipitous shortcuts." [Japan Times, 31 October 20000]. "Himalaya is impressive. And beautiful,. It isn't romantic...[it uses] a subjective camera to convey documentary realism...If Hollywood has created myths about Tibetans, then a movie like Himalaya breaks them down, while keeping the story universal." [News24-South Africa, 1 December 2000]
79. “Cave In The Snow”
Liz Thompson & Ellenor Cox
“In 1976 after battling with blatant sexism within the monastic order, British born Tenzin Palmo isolated herself in a remote Himalayan cave engaging in twelve years of Buddhist meditation. Here she faced unimaginable cold, wild animals, near-starvation and avalanches; grew her own food and slept in a traditional wooden meditation box, three-feet-square - she never lay down. Her goal - to gain enlightenment as a woman...Now a globe-trotting fundraiser she is battling to build a nunnery in India...dedicated to helping women achieve spiritual excellence.” [producers]
52 min. More info at: www.firelight.com.au
80. “Champion of Compassion: Kalachakra”
“...documentary focus on many aspects of the Kalachakra initiation...and is filled with beautiful footage of HH the Dalai Lama in Toronto. Special features include a history of Tibet and its struggle, as well as a glimpse at what it takes to organize such an event! Narrated by His Holiness’ translator.” [producers]
65 minutes, Snow Lion, $14.95.
81. "Chants Encounter & Ganden Jangste Monks: Sacred Music and Dance"
"This is a great film about overtone chanting -Tibetan monks, Gregorian Chanters and Mongolian overtone singers demonstrate the powerful healing and meditative qualities of ritual chanting and overtone harmonics." [Snow Lion]
Snow Lion, 50 minutes, US$29.
82. “Chanting Lama”
Ritual music and dances of Tibetan monks from northern India.
UK. 1980. 27 minutes.
83. “Chen ai luo ding” ([bden rdzun] brdar sha chod pa; Red Poppies)
Chinese TV, 2002/3
Pre-liberation family drama of powerful, decadent, Tibetan local rulers in 1940s Amdo
In Chinese and Tibetan; story by Alai ("Red Poppies").
Robbie Barnett collection.
84. “Chickenshit & Ash - A Visit to Paradise”
Karl Prossliner, Peter Freisz & Gabriele Tautscher
“The Tibeto-Burmese Culture meets the high industrialized civilization of Western Europe. The shaman and the mayor of Chayarsaba, Nepal, visit the "other world" in Vienna. This Austrian "village" is not the termination of heaven and earth, they claim to see paradise here, where everything gleams like a mirror, where one can eat one's fill, where the source of all food is invisible, where one can sit while working and traveling, and where machines do all the work. At the same time they are confused by the stored bones of the dead, the statues in the windows which wear clothes but do not breathe, and by the overweight people who use machines to squeeze out their sweat and fat.
Two different cultures are contrasted on the level of personal experience and reaction - directly, spontaneously and immediately.” [producers]
68 min. More info at: www.extrafilm.at
85. “Children of Tibet”
Director: Melinda Wearne
“Documentary that follows the journey to India that many Tibetan children make each year, in order to be able to be educated in their own language about their own customs. Focuses on three young children who recently made the journey, as well as an older Tibetan man who is completing his education.”
2003. 53 minutes. Australia. In English and Tibetan
86. "China and Human Rights,"
Rights and Wrongs Series
"Footage from inside a Chinese "slave ship" bringing immigrants to New York leads to a discussion of US Immigration policy; plus the resistance of Tibetan nuns abused by their Chinese occupiers." [producers]
1999, 30 min. Chip Taylor Communications.
87. “China and Tibet”
Charles Suydam Cutting, American ethnologist and botanist, visited Tibet in 1930, 1935 and 1937. In 1928 he traveled in Tibetans areas of China. See also his To Lhasa and Shigatse.
Available at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY
88. "China's Gulag in Tibet"
"This startling documentary traces developments in the largest growth industry in Tibet - prisons to house an ever increasing number of political prisoners" [producers]
27 minutes. Available from the Tibetan Government in Exile (http://tibetnews.com/pubs/videos.html )
89. "Choboi, 87, Monk, Choed-pa"
A "video document" by Wolf Kahlen, in German.
"A handful of (very) old surviving monks of Mongolia are accumulators of the secret spiritual traditions and lineages...they may use their knowledge for the secular as well as for profane interests. And they do so. Choboi Lama, 87 years old, practices Choed, a ritual of Sacrificing the Ego...[this video] presents the entire ritual in its shortest version...It quotes the essential text passages, but does not show the secret practices on [sic] cemeteries. These I saw but would never show." [Kahlen]
1996/7, 53 minutes. See http://www..snafu.de/~ruine-kuenste.berlin/video8.htm
90. "Chod"
By Wangdu Lama
Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche studied at Nadrag Monastery, a Nyingma monastery, and then completed the traditional sadhana of practicing Chod in 108 cremation grounds." [producers]
45 minutes, available on CD and video. Snow Lion, $45.00
91. “Cis rGung” (Mad Lama, blla ma smyon pa)
Made for Chinese TV.
Translation of Chinese period comedy. Robbie Barnett collection.
92. "Climbing Mount Everest"
1922 silent film made by Captain John Noel (film-maker, photographer, and entrepreneur) about the first expedition to attempt the climb of Mt. Everest. The film "...is less about climbing than the climber's encounter with Tibet...most of this film is an anthropological travelogue of Tibetan life."
Can be seen at the National Film and Television Archive, British Film Institute, London.
For a perceptive and informative discussion of this film and many other issues see Peter H. Hansen, "The Dancing Lamas of Everest: Cinema, Orientalism, and Anglo-Tibetan Relations in the 1920s," The American Historical Review 101:3 (June 1996): 712-747.
93. “Clouds of Red Flowers Face the Sun” (Duoduo hong hua xiang taiyang)
Chinese film directed by Zhang Hui in 1965.
94. “Commentary on Atisha’s Lamp for the Path of Liberation”
By. H. H. The Dalai Lama
“Atisha’s concise and comprehensive text brings together the essential points of the three turnings of the Wheel of Dharma...commentary was given in Italy in 2001.” [producers]
3 DVDs, 4.5 hours, Snow Lion
95. "Commentary on the Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattva"
by. H. H. the Dalai Lama; translated by Thubten Jinpa and Jeffrey Hopkins.
"This video is based on teachings by the Dalai Lama in July of 1989 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium prior to the Kalachakra Empowerment...[based] on the popular short text written by Sakya scholar Togme Zangpo in the fourteenth century." [Snow Lion]
Snow Lion, 6 videos, 12 hours, US$79.95.
96. "Compassion and Non-violence"
This film records the Dalai Lama's visit to Norway in December 1989 when he went there to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
Meridian Trust. 38 minutes. $35.00.
97. “Compassion and Wisdom: A Guide to the BodhisattvaМs Way of Life”
By James Zito
“This primer of compassionate living combines interviews with many of the world’s greatest Buddhist teachers...with rare footage of Buddhist art and architecture.” [producers]
Approx. 2.5 hours Snow Lion
98. * "Compassion in Exile"
"Compassion in Exile is an intimate portrait of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, whose thirty-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, who since 1950 have sought to eradicate the Tibetans' culture and religion. Speaking with unprecedented candor, the Dalai Lama describes his upbringing and key moments in his life, while his countrymen bear witness to their personal ordeals. Featuring never-before-seen footage and beauty of Tibet, Compassion in Exile is at once a testament to the humility and gentle wisdom of a great spiritual leader and a heartfelt plea for the salvation of a people." [producers]
1992, 16mm color, 60 minutes.
Produced by Lemle Pictures Inc. in association with Central Productions Ltd. UK. Distributed by Direct Cinema Limited, P.O. Box 10003, Santa Monica, CA 90410. Phone: (310) 396-4774.
99. "Compassion: The Basis for Human Happiness"
The Dalai Lama talking about cultivating compassion for ourselves and others. Talk sponsored by the Tibet Society of the U.K.
Meridian Trust. 90 minutes. $35.00
100. “Conflicts: Tibet”
BBC documentary. Directed by Oliver Clark
“...The programme combines archive footage with the views of both the Tibetans and the Chinese. Personal stories from Tibetans in exile tell of the Chinese policy of patriotic re-education under which monks have been persecuted and have had to renounce the Dalai Lama. Yet the Chinese honestly believe that China has saved the Tibetans from feudalism, They say that they have built schools, hospitals and roads, and that 50 years after it 'liberated' Tibet, there has been 'great social progress' in the region, a view contested by the Tibetans in exile.” [producers]
30 minutes.
101. "Contribution of the Individual to World Peace"
The Dalai Lama speaking to 2000 people at Coventry Cathedral, U.K. on "...how individuals can contribute to a peaceful world." [producers] Translated by Jeffrey Hopkins.
Meridian Trust.1984. 75 minutes. $40.00
102. "Creating the Sacred Space: Kalachakra Mandala in Rikon, Switzerland"
Edited by Robyn Brentano.
“Creating the Sacred Space: Kalachakra Mandala in Rikon, Switzerland 01/01/85
Throughout the history of Kalachakra practice, the elaborate preparation of a mandala for the
ritual initiation has been of prime importance. This sacred diagram is meticulously created from
coloured sand and forms an essential part of the consecration of the whole event, together with
offerings of tormas, ritual objects and lama dances. The precision of the physical preparations is
reflected in the meditations and teachings. The combined perfection of the master, H.H. the Dalai
Lama, and the auspicious elements of time, place and disciples combine with the mandala and
create the sacred space for Kalachakra.” [producers]
Meridian Trust. 60 minutes. $35.00
103. "Cutting Down Tibet"
Filmed clandestinely in southern Tibet (Kongpo) and Kham (Dawu); shows trucks from state-owned enterprises taken the logs toward Golmud, Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. Filmed by "anonymous Tibetans who slept in the mountains and filmed from hiding places." [producers]
Shown on BBC-TV, 2 May 1996.
104. "Daily Life in a Tibetan Bonpo Monastery"
Directed by Jon Jerstad.
Unique look at the pre-Buddhi