Watch Part 2 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpfhErvk8AU
In Dreaming Lhasa, we wanted to present a more realistic picture of Tibet.
The germ of the idea for the film came from a true-life incident: in 1998, we were commissioned by the BBC to make a documentary on the Tibetan resistance and the involvement of the CIA in it. While researching the film we heard the story of how one of the CIA-trained fighters -- someone Tenzing had known as a child through his father, Lhamo Tsering, a key figure in the Tibetan resistance -- vanished without a trace some years after the end of the movement. What could have happened to him? Musing on his mysterious fate led to the framework on which the story of "Dreaming Lhasa" slowly evolved.
The central characters of Karma (the New York filmmaker) and Jigme (the lost rock musician in India), with their confused cultural identities, their efforts to find some meaningful connection with a homeland they have never seen, their desire to keep alive a political struggle that seems all but lost, stem directly from Tenzing's own experiences as a first-generation Tibetan exile who was born and brought up in India and then lived most of his adult life in Europe, America, and England before returning to Dharamsala.
The character of Dhondup, the recent arrival from Tibet, was inspired in part by a series of interviews we conducted in 1999, while making a short film, "Rights . . . & Wrongs". Former political prisoners from Tibet who had escaped to India -- nuns, monks, ordinary men and women -- described in graphic detail their ordeal while in Chinese custody for the simple offense of having demonstrated for Tibet's independence.
These stories had a profound impact on us, and not only did they provide the background for Dhondup's character, some of the interviewees actually appeared as themselves in the film, giving their real-life testimonies to Karma. Unlike Karma and Jigme, Dhondup has lived all his life in Tibet and he has no illusions about the reality of contemporary Tibet, a country that is firmly under the control of China. But he, too, shares one thing in common with them; he also has no memory of a time when Tibet was free.
The characters only link to this Tibet of the past are the older Tibetans: Loga, Tse Topgyal, and Ghen Rabga, whose memories keep alive a vision of the past and of the invasion which they resisted. But they are the very last of their generation and with their passing, this connection will be severed.
In the film, the world of the younger generation is dislocated, confused, sometimes alien, and the dichotomies between culture, place and identity are particularly highlighted by a mix of unexpected music. On the other hand, Karma, Dhondup and Jigme's encounters with the older generation are oases of quiet and peace.
Time slows down in these scenes, which are permeated with a sense of spirituality, of the Buddhist notion of karma -- the relentless cycle of life, death and rebirth; of cause and effect. The mood is elegiac, a tribute to the past, to the personal histories of these men who represent a long-gone Tibet.
Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, June 2007, New Delhi, India
http://www.dreaminglhasa.com
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Dreaming Lhasa Part 3by kdechen10682 views
Click on "Show more" to view Dreaming Lhasa Film Notes.
retafmil 9 months ago