Films and Videos on Tibet
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FILMS AND VIDEOS ON TIBET Last updated: 15 July 2012 This list is maintained by A. Tom Grunfeld ( [email protected] ). 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 ("Tibet 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. In 1948 two Canadians, William Dunning and Ernest Reid, spent three months in southern Tibet; I don't believe they got to Lhasa. Reid took still pictures and shot film footage for what were intended to be documentaries. The films seem to have been lost although Reid's family has some 1000 photos that have been preserved. 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. Hansen in 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, China's 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:http://www.tibetonline.tv/ . 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: [email protected], 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. "21 TARAS: Our Journey Through Life" Produced, directed, edited, composed by Anahata Iradah, featuring the work of Prema Dasara "The Dance of Tara is an expression of the highest human ideals. The goal of the practice is to manifest enlightened mind--to integrate all dimensions of consciousness, to see clearly the truth behind phenomena, to develop the mind, so it may function in life, empowered and inspired. Tara is the female bodhisattva of mercy and compassion, and is the patron goddess of Tibet. Tara is a deity of Buddhist Tantra, a potentiality latent within everyone. Tara practice is designed to help us discover our own perfection. This DVD is a must for anyone who wishes to know more about Tara, sacred dance or spiritual practice. Prema Dasara has lived and breathed Tara for many years and her wisdom radiates through the DVD. Anahata's music and editing add tasteful elements." [producers] DVD includes 29 sections. $25.00. Snow Lion. 4. " A Brief History of Life" Film by Tenzin Jangchup "The film maker tells his story from growing up in exile in India to moving to Canada as a young adult." [producers] Canada. 2007. 6 minutes. 5."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. 6.* "A Butter Lamp at the Foot of the Snow Mountains" Producers: Tashi Tsering and Kungpu Dunchun A 60 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] September 2005 7. "A Commentary on the Awakening Mind by Arya Nagarjuna" by H. H. the XIV Dalai Lama, with Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen, translated by Thupten Jinpa "This well-produced DVD set covers the Dalai Lama's teachings on this key text by Nagarjuna. Beautifully filmed in Pasadena in 2006, the 4-DVD set comes with a booklet containing Nagarjuna's text in English. Watching this great DVD enables you to experience these wonderful teachings." [producers] 4 DVD set with booklet. US$70. Snow Lion. 8.* "A Conversation with the Dalai Lama" ABC-TV Nightline, 13 September 1995. Interviewed by Ted Koppel. Approx. 22 minutes. 9 . "A Day of the Little Living Buddha" A film by Pema Tseden (Wanma Caidan) who was born in the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai province and studied at the Beijing Film Academy. 2003 10 ."A Guest of Life - Alexander Csoma de KÖrÖs" Directed by Tibor Szemz Csomo was a Hungarian from Transylvania (now part of Romania) 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.