"A remarkable renaissance has been quietly taking place within Tibet, almost completely unknown to the outside world: a group of largely self-taught Tibetan intellectuals and artists have suddenly emerged who are making films about Tibetans and Tibetan life. In the last five years, these directors, each of them working alone and without state support, have found new ways to show Tibetan culture and life on screen. Their filmic visions are nothing like those made in the west or in China. Led by the works of Padma Tseten, which stand in their own right as major films by any standard, this festival showcases the early works of some of these filmmakers as they search for new ways of talking about being Tibetan."

- Robert Barnett, Director, Modern Tibetan Studies Program, Columbia University

Sunday March 14, 7:00 pm

Prince of the Himalayas

Director: Sherwood Hu
Year: 2006
Runtime: 108min
Tibetan with English subtitles

Setting Hamlet in a completely new context in early Tibetan history, Prince of the Himalayas is a visually ravishing historical epic that is richly suggestive of the enduring relevance of Shakespeare's tragedy for the modern world and the most successful example so far of artistic cooperation between a Chinese director and Tibetan writers (Dorje Tsering Chenaktshang and Tashi Dawa).

OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION to follow screening, sponsored by Harlem's own Sugar Hill Ale

Monday March 15, 7:30 pm

No. 16 Barkor South Street

Director: Duan Jinchuan
Year: 1996
Runtime: 100min
Tibetan and Chinese with English subtitles

No.16 Barkor Street is an old courtyard in the heart of Lhasa and the site of the office of the Barkor Neighborhood Committee. This masterful cinema verité documentary, the landmark work in the history of independent documentaries about Tibet, is a photographic study of the basic workings of government in Tibet that follows the local Party Secretary, Deputy Director, Director for Women's Affairs, and Community Policeman, among others, as they implement official policies and manage neighborhood affairs. 

Tantric Yogi

Director: Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang
Year: 2005
Runtime: 50min
Director's first documentary
Tibetan with English subtitles

This documentary follows a Yogi and his fellow villagers as they travel through challenging territory to reach a rare gathering of thousands of lay tantric practitioners in Eastern Tibet. Narrated by Jim Broadbent.

Ani Lhacham

Director: Dorje Tsering Chenaktshang
Year: 2007
Runtime: 27min
Tibetan with English subtitles

When she was a child, Lhacham was eager to learn how to read and write. For economic reasons, her parents thought otherwise. She decided to run away to a nunnery in order to receive the education she was dreaming of. Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang follows her during a trip to the nearby town to get her tape recorder fixed. This recorder is her knowledge tool which she uses to learn Tibetan. The film is a tender and poetic portrait of Lhacham's first journey into town.

Wednesday March 17, 7:30 pm

The Silent Holy Stones

Director: Padma Tseten
Year: 2005
Runtime: 102min
Director's first feature
Tibetan with English subtitles

The debut feature from the preeminent Tibetan filmmaker working today. The Silent Holy Stones is a restrained, unhurried story of a 10-year old Tibetan monk who has the chance to spend a few days at New Year with his family in their village a day's horse-ride away. The boy's journey to his village and back to the monastery bring to light the intertwined forces of westernization and consumerism that are a powerful presence even in a small Tibetan farming community.

Introduced by Kevin Lee of dGenerate Films and followed by Q&A with filmmaker Padma Tseten
Co-presented by dGenerate Films

Thursday March 18, 7:30 pm

Milarepa

Director: Sonam
Year: 2006
Runtime: 95min
Director's first film
Tibetan with English subtitles

A delightfully personal rendering of the story of Tibet's best known and most respected yogi-poet, Milarepa, made by a self-taught director who wrote, lit, set and edited the entire film himself, using amateur actors in a remote Tibetan village. As a young man, Milarepa uses sorcery to murder his aunt and uncle who have stolen his family's fortune. Later he regrets his actions and seeks out a famous lama, who submits his student to years of hardship before complete understanding can be achieved.     

The Grassland

Director: Padma Tseten
Year: 2004
Runtime: 22min
Director's first film
Tibetan with English subtitles

When an elderly woman's yak goes missing, her husband is sure he knows who the culprits are, but the woman is more concerned about avoiding further suffering for the suspects. A careful and moving study of different views of resolving conflict in a nomadic community.

The Girl Lhari

Director: Rigdan Gyatso
Year: 2005
Runtime: 25 min
Director's first work
Tibetan with English subtitles

Lhari is a young bride sent to a country village to live with her in-laws, who increasingly use her as a servant and even lock her out at night, with her husband not daring to intervene. Lhari decides to find her own, quintessentially Tibetan solution to her situation.

Screenings followed by panel discussion with both filmmakers, Padma Tseten and Rigdan Gyatso, and a reception

The Search

Director: Padma Tseten
Year: 2009
Runtime: 112min
Director's second feature
Tibetan with English subtitles

A Tibetan film director travels from village to village across the country looking for an actor and an actress to star in his next film. He hears talk of people with the skills he needs, but they always seem to have just left or living somewhere else, as if he's come too late. The Search is a road movie exploring a disappearing culture, taking the viewer straight into the heart of contemporary Tibet. This elegant film recently debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and is the first ever to be shot entirely in Tibet in the Tibetan language by a local crew.

Q&A with filmmaker and CLOSING NIGHT RECEPTION to follow, sponsored by Harlem's own Sugar Hill Ale