Synopsis
Tibetan Film Festival 2009
KUNDUN
Praised as one of the best films of the year, Kundun is a motion picture masterpiece directed by five-time Acadamy Award-nominated director Martin Scorsese. It’s the incredible true story of one of the world’s most fascinating leasers-Tibet’s Dalai Lama-and his daring struggle to rule a nation at one of the most challenging times in its history.
Powerfully told and set against a backdrop of world politics-the film’s release created an international uproar!
Featuring a striking, Oscar-nominated score by renowned composer Philip Glass, this extraordinary motion picture has been greeted with both controversy and worldwide acclaim-experience it for yourself!
DREAMING LHASA
Karma, a Tibetan filmmaker from New York, goes to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's exile headquarters in northern India, to make a documentary about former political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. She wants to reconnect with her roots but is also escaping a deteriorating relationship back home.
One of Karma's interviewees is Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has just escaped from Tibet. He confides in her that his real reason for coming to India is to fulfill his dying mother's last wish, to deliver a charm box to a
long-missing resistance fighter. Karma finds herself unwittingly falling in love with Dhondup even as she is sucked into the passion of his quest, which becomes a journey into Tibet's fractured past and a voyage of self-discovery.
THE CUP: AN INSPIRING TRUE STORY
Based on true events, two boys are sent, with much hardship and danger, to a monastery in exile in the picturesque foothills of the Himalayas. As they receive their ordination and orientation into a monastic life, a whirlwind of events not usually associated with the austere atmosphere of the monastery intrudes on their routine - how can they get to watch the World Cup Finals? Soon the chants of the young monks are a vehicle for soccer scores instead of prayers. Caught while sneaking out to watch a semi-final match, they are afraid of expulsion, but they are even more afraid that they'll miss a match. A brazen plan is hatched that pits tradition against technology as the boys try to get a television and satellite dish into the monastery.