By Wasfia Nazreen
Dharamsala, April 10 – The 3rd Annual Tibetan Film Festival was inaugurated on the 8th of April, at the Yongling Kindergarten School of Jogibara Road, McLeod Ganj. The festival, which lasts till the 14th of April has been organized by Lobsang Wangyal Productions, with co-sponsors Wines by Design Australia and Asia Health Resorts Dharamsala.
When asked about the motivation on the continuity of this kind of festival, Lobsang exclaims, “McLeod Ganj has become an international passing-through place. My aspiration for arranging this type of festival within this community is geared towards bringing awareness. Especially for the local youth who would be inspired by the increasing number of Tibetan films and film directors, and know that we all can do it.”
This year’s festival has a special theme on Global Warming, which is increasingly becoming an inevitable threat for not only the Tibetans, but for the rest of this world. “Global Warming is real and that is the inconvenient truth. Because I myself am a Tibetan and therefore the Himalayan glaciers are of particular interest to me. All Tibetans need to come together to curve this menace. Not just for ourselves, but for the entire human civilization. Maybe we can not reverse it, yet we can help slow the process of this catastrophe.”
Out of the fifteen movies being screened, Lobsang stresses particularly on the misusage of the copyrights with the movie Milarepa. “The piracy of the movie Milarepa is something that really bothers me and I strongly oppose these acts.” In the brochures of the festival, Lobsang further explain: “Chockling Rinpoche’s much awaited Milarepa, the 11th century Tibetan yogi, whose life on celluloid has been long overdue, has been leaked before getting into the hands of the distributors! Rinpoche and his producers don’t know how this happened. The small Tibetan market is already being filled with pirated copies. It is believed to be the work of some Tibetans. Compassion ceases and selfishness reigns when it comes to money. An act of Buddhism?”
An Inconvenient Truth, an Oscar winner of 2007 for best documentary film, is the main attraction of the festival. The movie is directed by Davis Guggenheim and presented by former US vice-president Al Gore, and exposes the myths and misconceptions around climate change or Global Warming. Other titles that occupy the tight schedule, which starts everyday at 7pm are: We corner people, Milarepa, Miss Tibet, A noble effort, Kekexili Mountain patrol, Tsampa to Pizza, Sacred Tibet- the path to Mount Kailash, Joy of living, Walking on the wild side, Kadrin: a journey to success, Me-tse, Democracy in exile: Tibet at crossroads, The road to Guantanamo and Making the dream: the story behind Dreaming Lhasa.
Lobsang feels that there is an urgency to understand the Chinese mentality and therefore the screening of Walking on the wild side, the only Chinese entry for this year. For those curious to know why he chose to include Chinese movie in a Tibetan film festival:
“We are not talking about politics here, we are talking about cinema. We are talking about living with China in cooperation. Therefore it is essential to understand their aspirations, behavior and so on.”
The entry cost for either of the movie viewing (usually showing two every evening, with exception of one evening showing three) is 100 rupees, which, even though quiet costly for the locals, seems to be popular enough with the foreigners who continually flood the streets of McLeod Ganj.
This is in complete contrast with other local film festivals which are arranged and held entirely free of charge by organizations such as Students for Free Tibet (SFT) solely to bring awareness amongst the Tibetan community. For some local activists and film-enthusiasts, who wish to remain anonymous, it is quite a nightmare to attend the 2007 Tibetan Film Festival for the high charge involved to view even one movie. Perhaps the business mindedness of the festival is not an act of Buddhism either?
