with a post-screening discussion led by Robert Barnett, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Tibetan Studies and Director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University on September 30
New York-based filmmaker, Karma, is visiting Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's exile headquarters in northern India, to make a documentary about former political prisoners from Tibet. There she meets Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has come to India to fulfill his dying mother's last wish—to deliver a charm box to a long-missing resistance fighter. Karma is drawn to Dhondup and is pulled deeper into his quest, which becomes both a journey into Tibet's fractured past and a voyage of self-discovery. Featuring beautiful views of the Himalayas and northern India, an unexpected look at young Tibetans clubbing in Dharamsala, and references to the CIA's involvement in Tibet. "Intriguing, gorgeous, moving... unwraps Tibetan culture from the timeless ideal." (IndieWire) The first feature film by documentary makers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, whose documentaries include The Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche (1991) and The Shadow Circus: The CIA in Tibet (1998). more at firstrunfeatures.com 35mm
2007, color, 1 hour 30 minutes, India/UK