What it means to be Tibetan

Through an Exile Lens: Thoughts and Imaginings of Tibet

1–7 July: in association with the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Through the eyes of some incredibly talented, and often young and just emerging artists, this season looks at what it means to be Tibetan, offering a window into a fascinating culture protected and developed within the exile community. This season of recent films offers insights into life in Tibet and explores the exile condition of Tibetan refugees in India. Taking a fresh, young and raw approach, including footage previously unseen in the UK, many of these films have come straight from the heart of the exile community in India and its burgeoning creative scene.

Blindsight

2 July: cinema 1

Sabriye Tenberken set up the only school for the blind in Tibet, Braille Without Borders. Together with world-renowned and blind mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer, she took a group of blind students on an epic journey to climb Lhakpa Ri, a 7,000 metre peak close to Mount Everest's north face. What seems like a dangerous if not impossible challenge makes for an incredible journey, far beyond anything they could have imagined. The film will be preceded by a five-minute short, Garbages, from the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala, India. [Dir Lucy Walker, UK 2006, 104 mins, subtitles, cert PG]

Dreaming Lhasa

1, 7 July: cinema 2

Karma, a Tibetan film-maker from New York, goes to Dharamsala to make a documentary about ex-political prisoners and meets ex-monk Dhondup. He confides in her that his real reason for coming to India was to fulfil his dying mother's last wish, to deliver a charm box to a resistance fighter. A journey into the Tibet’s fractured past and its dislocated present in exile, this is a passionate voyage of self-discovery. Preceded by a six-minute short, A Journey to Happiness, from the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala, India. [Dir Ritu Sarin/Tenzing Sonam, India/UK 2005, 90 mins, subtitles, cert PG]

Kekexili: Mountain Patrol

2, 5 July: cinema 2

Set against the magnificent backdrop of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, a Tibetan volunteer patrol faces a life and death struggle to protect the rare Tibetan antelope. When photographer Ga Yu comes to the patrol camp, patrol leader Ri Tai is suspicious of him, but allows him to join the patrol, as they go on a journey into brotherhood, danger and the mountains of Tibet. [Dir Chuan Lu, China 2004, 90 mins, subtitles, cert 15]

+ On top of the world in an Eastern Western

Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion

3, 5 July: cinema 1 & 2: screening on 5 July followed by a talk by Karma Chungda, Tenzin Jigme and Tenzin Losel of International Campaign for Tibet

Ten years in the making, Cry of the Snow Lion takes us through rarely seen rituals in remote monasteries, from the brothels and slums of Lhasa, to spectacular Himalayan peaks. Secrets from Tibet’s recent history are told through personal accounts and interviews, providing an insight into Tibet's troubled past. [Dir Tom Peosay, US 2002, 104 mins, cert 15]