Sir Basil Gould's Films of Tibet (1940) - extract

Highlights from the BFI National Archive's extensive collection of films shot in Tibet prior to the Chinese occupation can now be seen in the BBC/BFI co-production, 'The Lost World of Tibet' (2008). Featuring a potent interview with the Dalai Lama an extended version the documentary is available to buy on DVD from the BFI Filmstore - http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_7836.html

This film was shot by Sir Basil Gould who succeeded Derek Williamson as Political Officer of Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet in 1935. His films record two visits to Lhasa. The first, Lhasa (1936), shows his Diplomatic Mission to the Tibetan capital. His cameraman Frederick Spencer Chapman was commissioned by the BFI in 1937 to write an article for Sight and Sound magazine describing that visit ("Tibetan Horizon"). The film features an intriguing sequence of Tibetan women playing darts. (Jan Faull)

You can now watch over 20 hours of films made in Tibet between 1922 and 1949 in the Mediatheque at BFI Southbank. These include the films of plant hunter and botanist George Sherriff (his love of nature is reflected in the remarkable jewel-like colours of his films); Frederick Bailey: Political Agent, butterfly collector and spy and remarkable footage of Mallory and Irvine's ill-fated attempt to conquer Everest. http://www.bfi.org.uk/mediatheque

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• BFI
• Tibet
• China
• Buddhism
• Buddhist
• Lhasa
• darts

[HumanRightsVideosT]

Most civilised countries do NOT have the death penalty. Learn more about civilised countries.

Tibet did away with the death penalty nearly 100 years ago. But then the backwards communists invaded and put humans rights on a backwards path.

Tibetans were happy in Tibet in 1948. No stupid death sentences or torture.

[tinchojos]

the best part of pre 1950s is there was non chinese in tibet an independent tibet

[WrellikW]

We owe a debt of gratitude to Sir Basil Gould for these films. They are a glimpse in history that will never be seen again in this lifetime or any other. If it wasn't for him and his party, we would have lost this history forever. The Chinese killed off all of their intellectuals, leaving a idiotic society that spread to Tibet, to kill off a peaceful society there. Luckily, Sir Basil Gould was there prior to this idiocy and preserved it for our benefit. Thank you Sir Basil!!! W. Winningham

[VictorLepanto]

@FalunGongIsAmazing: it is the stupidity of one party rule which is the ultimate cause of all those things. A small band of elite leaders, unanswerable to the subjects they rule, who are insulated by vast distance from the real consequences of their policies. The population is irrelevant to their environmental damage. In terms of scale, people to land area, Taiwan is far more densely populated. It was hearing the zero population hysteria from the West in the 70s which caused this policy.

[FalunGongIsAmazing]

@VictorLepanto

Do you know why the 1 child was introduced ??

Here's a clue from

chinadaily. com.cn/china/2011-05/06/ content_12459023.htm

"China has about 6 billion mu (400 million hectares) of natural grasslands, the second-largest in the world in terms of area. Climate change, excessive grazing and rural development have caused damage to 90 percent of these grasslands."

#

FREE Tibet and China from @Environmental @Destruction

[VictorLepanto]

@HumanRightsVideosT: Exactly so, but they will be dragging the Tibetans down w/ them, along w/ much of the rest of the world. Their economic bullying will certainly wreck most of the countries in the region. The main problem of the PRC is that their radical population control policy will cause such grotesque population imbalances, their politcal order will go violently off the tracks soon. Too many old people dependent on the young, too many women relative to men. Very bad Kharma.

[HumanRightsVideosT]

@VictorLepanto

Tibetans were different, but they got rid of the Death Penalty in 1913. The execution capital of the world (china) still has the death penalty in 2011 and shows no sign on changing. In my opinion China will soon be 100 years behind the times.

[VictorLepanto]

It is strange, when the atomic bomb & the 1st jet planes were being built, people were still living like this. Yet, it is not jet planes which reached these people. It was an already long discredited 19th cent. economic & political theory being carried by murderous fanatics. It is not atomic bombs which are the most destructive forces in this world.

[ikhamo]

they rode jackass in lhasa of old tibet

[chena3]

nice hats

in Tibet