DZONGSAR

Dzongsar is a collection of Participatory Videos, part of the Kham Film Project's Participatory Video Series

Located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, Dzongsar is home to about 12,000 Tibetans, whose livelihood mainly depends on herding and the annual tsampa (barley) harvest. Dzongsar is also home to the Yothok Yonden Gonpo Medical Association, a unique local revitalization effort. Originally founded as a Tibetan hospital, Yothok Yonden Gonpo has branched out to offer occupational training in a wide range of arts and craftsmanship, including drawing, Thangkha painting, mural painting, decorative house painting, carpentry, woodcarving, gold and silver processing, blacksmithing, bronze statue casting, clay sculpture work, earthenware pottery making, tailoring, spinning, and weaving.

In recent years, filmmaking, photography, and other forms of digital media have played an increasingly important role in Tibetan and Himalayan communities. Digital technology has begun to emerge as a tool for communication, instrument of creative self-expression, and vital means of re-imagining and re-invigorating traditional culture.

The aim of our participatory video workshops is to encourage creative media-making among Tibetans and other Himalayan communities. The workshops are designed to share the excitement of filmmaking with individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of experience. In the workshops, we focus on filmmaking as a process that can empower individuals and strengthen the bonds of community.

DZONGSAR

PV HOME MAP DESCRIPTION CREDITS & THANKS GALLERY MORE INFO PURCHASE

Click on map to watch videos.

Description

The community map and associated videos were produced in September 2007, by participants from Yothok Yonden Gonpo Medical Association working with facilitators from the Kham Film Project. The videos were shot and conceived by local team-members, and edited by project facilitator Tsering Perlo, with input from Nelson Walker and Lynn True.

Made possible with the collaboration of the Yothok Yonden Gonpo Medical Association and generous support from The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation

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Credits & Thanks

Participant Filmmakers
Doga
Chimé Dorjé
Trinley Dorjé
Tra Chimé Dorjé
Trabu Chimé Dorjé
Trabu Tashi Lhamo

Facilitators
Nelson Walker III
Rikpé Dorjé
Philip Maysles
Tsering Perlo

Editor
Tsering Perlo

Additional Interviews
Sönam Topgyel
Chönyi Dorjé

Additional Camerawork
Nelson Walker III

Subtitles/Translation
Tsering Perlo
Jann Ronis
Chelsea Hall
William McGrath

Series Producers
Lynn True
Nelson Walker III

Special Thanks
David Germano
Cecil Matthai Esquivel-Obregón
Trabu Chimé Dorjé
Luore Phuntzok
Staff of the Dzongsar Tibetan Hospital
University of Virginia
Columbia University

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Photo Gallery

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More Info

For more information about Dzongsar and the Yothok Yonden Gonpo Medical Association, please visit their website.
Click HERE.

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