Tibet film festival, London, UK
Jamyang buddhist centre & genesis cinema
20th-22nd October, 2023
Join us for the Tibet Film Festival London’s edition taking place at the Jamyang Buddhist Centre and Genesis Cinema, 20th-22nd October, 2023.
FRIDAY, 20 October, 2023, 6 - 7:30 pm
Buddhist Film Series: Tibet Film Festival at Jamyang BUDDHIST CENTRE
SCREENING TWO DOCUMENTARIES DIRECTED BY GELECK PALSANG
Before the films, we’ll show a special video introduction from the director. Book your tickets here: https://jamyang.co.uk/event/buddhist-film-series-tibet-film-festival-at-jamyang
Fathima the Oracle (2019), 28 min
A Buddhist spirit possesses a young Muslim girl in a small village in north India. As she goes into trance, she speaks a language different from her own. This bizarre and rare phenomenon breeds hostility within her community and leads to a failed attempt on her life by the villagers. With the help and support from her family and friends, she tries to gain a better understanding of what is happening to her and negotiates a spiritual path by which she can practice both the religions and be of help to people in need.
Watch the trailer here: TRAILER – FATHIMA THE ORACLE
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Prayers Answered (2005), 30 min
On the invitation and prayers of local tribal leaders, His Holiness the Dalai Lama travels to Turtuk, a poor and remote Muslim village at the India-Pakistan border. More than a symbolic gesture, the visit results in an invitation by the Dalai Lama to provide modern education to children from the village while ensuring the preservation of their own religious and cultural heritage.
Tickets: FREE – £15.00
Arrive at 6pm for complimentary tea and coffee before the event starts. Book your tickets here: https://jamyang.co.uk/event/buddhist-film-series-tibet-film-festival-at-jamyang
FILM + Q&A: THE GREAT DISTANCE DELIVERS CRANE
SATURDAY, 21 October, 2023, 6:25pm @ GENESIS CINEMA
Film and Q&A: “The Great Distance Delivers Crane”
Date and Time: Saturday, 21st October 2023, 6:25pm
Directed by Lhapal Gyal
Starring Pakmo Yangdrom, Druklha Dorje
Feature Film | Tibetan with English Subtitles
2022 | Tibet | 90 mins
Synopsis: In a Tibetan village in Amdo, eastern Tibet, siblings Gesang and Dorje live with their grandmother. The brother and sister, who lost their mother at a young age, are eager to be with their busy father. Dorje and Gesang rescue an injured and orphaned black-necked crane and take it home to care for it. The winter is coming but due to the lack of family, the little crane can not fly to migrate. After many kinds of man-made training and flying failure, they decide to ride a motorcycle and take the crane to the wintering ground in Yunnan. Dorje and Gesang experience many hardships on the road. With the help of pilgrims, a yak driver, and a bard, they travel more than 1,000 km. The two children are determined to deliver the cranes thousands of miles. It is not only the children growing up but the journey also becomes the salvation of adults.
Hailing from Amdo Province, eastern Tibet, Lhapal Gyal was motivated to study film after watching Pema Tseden’s directorial debut, The Silent Holy Stones (2005). Pema Tseden encouraged Lhapal Gyal to immerse himself in literature and later Lhapal Gyal worked as an assistant director on Pema Tseden's film Tharlo (2015). Lhapal Gyal's 2018 debut feature film was Wangdrak’s Rain Boots, which was selected for the Berlin International Film Festival’s Generation section. The film also earned him the title of ‘Best Director’ at the 12th edition of the FIRST International Film Festival in 2018 in Xining.
The Great Distance Delivers Crane had its world premiere at FIRST International Film Festival, Xining, 2022.
After the film there will be an in-person Q&A with scholar Prof. Françoise Robin. Prof. Françoise Robin is a professor of Tibetan language and literature at the University of Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) in Paris, France. Prof. Françoise Robin has done extensive research on Tibetan contemporary literature and filmmaking and has translated many novels and short stories from Tibetan into French and English.
Book tickets here: https://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/checkout/showing/the-great-distance-delivers-crane-qa---tibet-film-festival/107273
BAR EVENT: TIBETAN SHORT FILMS AND LIVE MUSIC
SATURDAY, 21 October, 2023, 8:30pm @ GENESIS CINEMA
We're bringing the Tibetan Short Films night back to the Genesis bar and this year we are joined by our co-hosts, Tibetan Community in Britain Youth (TCB Youth). Team TFF London and Team TCB Youth will lead you through an informal and fun evening where you will be introduced to Tibetan short films including a surprise film and also new offerings from the Dharamsala based "Drung Collective". We will have live music from Zurich based singer-songwriter Lhanzom Lhasam. All are welcome!
Book tickets here: https://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/checkout/showing/a-night-of-tibetan-short-films-and-live-music---tibet-film-festival/107274
FILM: DAUGHTER OF THE LIGHT
SUNDAY, 22 October, 2023, 4pm @ GENESIS CINEMA
Film: “Daughter of the Light”
Date and Time: Sunday, 22nd October 2023, 4pm
Directed by Khashem Gyal
Documentary | Tibetan with English Subtitles
2020 | Tibet | 100 mins
Synopsis: In Tibet, divorce is becoming a social problem. As a new wave of technology, such as dating on smartphones, is sweeping through the area, traditional life starts to collapse. Especially the phenomenon of parents abandoning her children for remarriage is prevalent.
Although 13-year-old Metok Karpo lives in a boarding school for orphans, her divorced parents are alive and well, leaving her to be raised by her maternal grandparents, who make her school holidays hell by continually denouncing her father. While her mother unsuccessfully remarries, Metok embarks on a journey to find her father in her native grassland. Discovering his happy life with a new family, she is troubled by complex feelings she can only express through her imaginative drawings.
The film's title Daughter of the Light, refers to Tibetan children who live on the plateau, a place closest to the sun on earth, in the hope that they will have a bright future.
Khashem Gyal is a filmmaker from Amdo who tells the stories of individual struggles in the midst of social change in Tibet. His first short documentary, Valley of the Heroes, depicting the complex linguistic and cultural transition in Tibet has screened at many film festivals and universities around the world.
Daughter of the Light received the “Colors of Asia Award” at the 2017 Tokyo Docs Pitching Forum. In 2018, he was nominated for the Adeste Gold Medal, which recognizes global citizens under 40 who have "excelled beyond their limits in inspiring others to ‘touch the stars’.”
Book tickets here: https://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/checkout/showing/daughter-of-the-light---tibet-film-festival/107275
FILM + Q&A: LHAMO AND SKALBE
SUNDAY, 22 October, 2023, 6pm @ GENESIS CINEMA
FILM + Q&A: LHAMO AND SKALBE
SUNDAY, 22 October, 2023, 6pm @ GENESIS CINEMA
Film and Q&A: "Lhamo and Skalbe"
Date and Time: Sunday, 22nd October, 6pm
Directed by Sonthar Gyal
Starring Sonam Nyima, Dekyid, Sechok Gyal
Feature Film | Tibetan with English Subtitles
2019 | 110 mins | Tibet
Synopsis: Lhamo and Skalbe fail to register their marriage because Skalbe is already engaged in a legal conjugal relationship. Skalbe embarks on a journey to search for his so-called ex-wife Tsoyag, only to find with surprise that the girl had renunciate her secular life already when she broke the promise four years ago. Tsoyag’s identity causes great difficulty to Skalbe. Meanwhile, Lhamo acts estranged and confusing. She is busy with the rehearsal of Tibetan opera, Epic of King Gesar, representing the heroine protagonist Atak Lhamo who fell into hell sinfully. A buried secret brings her fear to the character and anxiety of marriage.
Born in Amdo, eastern Tibet, Sonthar Gyal grew up amongst shepherds. Following studies at the Beijing Film Academy, he became a prominent member of the first generation of Tibetan filmmakers with films including The Sun Beaten Path (2011, Locarno, Hong Kong - Special Mention), River (2015, Berlin) and Ala Changso (2018, Shanghai - Grand Jury Prize and Best Screenplay).
Lhamo and Skalbe had its world premiere at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in 2019 and was screened at Glasgow Film Festival in March 2020.
After the film there will be an in-person Q&A with scholar Dr. Hamsa Rajan. Dr. Hamsa Rajan is British Academy Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. She has lived and worked in China and Tibet since 2003. Prior to becoming an academic, she spent time in China and Tibet working for non-profit foundations aiding children, as an English teacher and as a Chinese-English and Tibetan-English translator and interpreter. Her academic research focuses on gender relations in Tibetan families, including dynamics of abuse, the ways in which household economic production impacts women’s vulnerability to maltreatment in the home, and interactions between gender relations and ethnic minority politics. Her work falls in the intersections of Sinology, sociology/anthropology, and feminist theory.
Book tickets here: https://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/checkout/showing/lhamo-and-skalbe-qa---tibet-film-festival/107276