Kathmandu, June 5, 2006 – Two young men, Tsering Rhitar and Tenzing Wangdu of Nepal exmussoorie Alumni Association, who spent their school years in Mussoorie, a hill station town in northern India known for harboring thousands of displaced Tibetan refugees, will be in North America in July and August with a movie and a mission.
Before the tour, the exmussoorie and Home Away from Home project will be launched at the special screening and premiere of Karma at Jai Nepal Theater, 6.30 PM on 8th June 2006 in Kathmandu.
The movie titled Karma is Rhitar’s latest directorial venture while the charity project, Home Away from Home, serves children – orphans, destitute, and new arrivals to India from Tibet. The charity was founded by the “Ex-Mussoorie Association”, alumni of Mussoorie schools. The Alumni want specifically to give 20 such deprived Tibetan children a special winter holiday every year and gradually increase the number.
When temperatures dip low, all the schools in Mussoorie close down for long winter vacation. The Central School and Tibetan Homes School do the same, and so quite a number of students go away during the winter vacation to their parents and relatives in different parts of India, Bhutan, and Nepal. Unlike other schools, refugee schools are residential. And there are over 400 children who are compelled to stay back in the freezing winter as they have nowhere to go or cannot afford to visit their near and dear ones. The loneliness and the sadness of having no home and nowhere to go when their friends and others leave for holidays was a feeling which many of alumni members reminisce. In the thirteen years of their schooling, usually sponsored by western charities and individuals, these children will never have left Mussoorie.
“In 2005, ten young children were escorted from Mussoorie to Kathmandu, Nepal where they were taken into the homes of members of Ex-Mussoorie and had outings and all the treats that children the world over desire – ice-cream, trips to the zoo, movies,” says Tenzing Wangdu, a member of Ex Mussoorie, “We hope to continue this mission. This is why we are touring the U.S and Canada on a fundraising trip.”
The movie aptly titled Karma in Sanskrit means the force generated by a person’s actions to perpetuate transmigration, and in its ethical consequences, determine the nature of the person’s next existence.
A small film could not have a bigger philosophical question: what is more important, inner development or outward social action?
Karma was shot in the remote region of Mustang in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal and follows the journey of a nun. In a nunnery in the high desert mountains, a revered abbess dies, leaving signs that she will be reborn in the precious human form. Prayers and ritual must be done to help her consciousness into its next rebirth, but the nunnery coffers are empty. The senior nuns decide that the only way out is get back money loaned out by the nunnery. A nun by the name of Karma decides to take this journey into the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu.
“This tour will launch Karma, and we hope to reach a wide audience and touch the hearts of all people from the Himalayas living abroad and supporters of Tibet to contribute to helping those less fortunate left behind,” says Tsering Rithar Sherpa.
Tsering Rhitar 1997 film “The Spirit Doesn’t Come Anymore”, a documentary film profiling an old Tibetan shaman earned him the Best Film Award in FILM SOUTH ASIA – festival of South Asian documentary films, and Best Indigenous Filmmaker of the Year at Parnu Anthropological Film Festival, Estonia. In 2000, he made “Mukundo” (Mask of Desire) which was widely shown in International Film Festivals, and was Nepal’s Official Entry for Academy Awards (OSCAR) in Best Foreign Language Film Section in 2000.
Tsering Rhitar says, “In Karma, I am trying to explore if spiritualism and materialism can complement each other, or not.”
North America Tour schedule of the screening of Karma:
1.Toronto July 6, or July 8/tentative (supported by CTAO,Toronto and exmussoorie)
2. Montreal July 9/tentative (supported by Tashi Yangzom, exmussoorie)
3. Boston July 15 (supported by Boston Tibetan Association)
4. Minnesota July 16 (supported by Minnesota RTYC)
5. Boulder July 28 (supported by Tibet Gallery, Boulder)
6. Denver July 29 (supported by Tibet Gallery, Boulder)
7. Santa Fe July 30 (supported by Santa Fe Tibetan Association)
8. Salt Lake City August 5 (supported by Salt lake city RTYC)
9. Los Angeles August 12 (Supported by Tenpa la. LA)
10. San Francisco August 13 (supported by TANC, SFO)
11. Seattle August 19 (supported by Tenzing Chodak, exmussoorie and Seattle Tibetan Association)
12. Portland August 26 (supported by Tenzing Sherap)
13. Vancouver August 27 (supported by SFT Vancouver)
14. New York City Confirmation pending (supported by Tashi Lhadar la, NYC Tibetan association)
Note: Chicago, Wisconsin and Washington DC also on planned tour list.
