film

7th of December 2021 at 20:45 Světozor Cinema RESERVE

A Mother’s Son tells the heart-rending tale of 16-year old Dorjee Tsering who sets himself on fire as his way of trying to get the world to focus on the terrible situation in Tibet. The controversial tactic of self-immolation is sensitively handled in the film, which includes interviews with Dorjee’s relatives and friends and statements from the Karmapa and the Sikyong (Prime Minister of the Tibetan government in exile) Lobsang Sangay.

The films of the Tibetan film archive evening courtesy of Tibet Film Archive, New York.

Rare and unusual footage of dance, prayer, and chanting filmed by German documentarians filmed in the North East of Tibet in the 1920’s. Includes Cham dances at the Kumbum monastery as well as pilgrims earning money for their journey to a Tibetan Lama monastery.

Tibeter Tänze buddhistischer Pilger (Zentralasien, Osttibet), 1957, author R. Nebesky-Wojkowitz

Silent with live music and an live introduction by Tibetologist Luboš Bělka

Due to expensive school fees TIbetan children have no access to education, but are sent to Indian monasteries led by Tibetan monks for training. They leave their families and start in small groups on their dangerous way through the ice and snow covered Himalayan mountains. Many do not arrive: They are either caught in TIbet or they die on the way because of the cold weather. And even at the end of the long journey there is still a heavy burden, since the children do not know, when they will see their parents again.

A moving short documentary about children fleeing Tibet to seek an education and a better life in exile in India. They leave their families in small groups and start on their dangerous way through the ice and snow covered Himalayan mountains. Many do not make it - either they are caught on the way or die due the extreme conditions and weather. And even at the end of the journey there is still a heavy burden, since the children do not know when they will see their parents again.

This ethnographic film documents Khenpo Sodargye’s lectures and dialogues with social scientists in North America and Europe on the topics of environmental health, human flourishing, the scientific understanding of the mind, and Buddhist vision of world peace in spring 2013.

On the invitation and prayers of tribal leaders, the Dalai Lama travels to a poor and remote Muslim village at the India Pakistan border. More than a symbolic gesture, the visit results in an invitation by the Dalai Lama to provide a modern education to children from the village while insuring their religious and cultural heritage. Without this film, this amazing story would never be known or seen.

The films of the Tibetan film archive evening courtesy of Tibet Film Archive, New York.

Film about the early exile years of Tibetan Exiles in India.

Tibetans have been engaged in a protracted non-violent struggle for freedom since China’s occupation of the region in 1949. On February 27 2009, their protests took on a new shape when a young monk lit himself on fire. Since then, more than 90 Tibetans from all walks of life have burned themselves in protest against cultural and religious repression. But beyond the numbers, Tibet’s self-immolators were also people - someone’s daughter, nephew, cousin. Through some of their friends and relatives, they are remembered and their extreme actions contextualized.