Wisconsin
Film Festival 2005
The Roof of the World:
Films from the Himalayas
A Cinematic journey through an intriguing region
by
Rachel Weiss
The
Center for South Asia is a proud sponsor of the special series,
and has supported scholarly and outreach activities related to
Tibetan studies at UW-Madison since 1967 when Dr. Geshe Sopa joined
the faculty of the Department of South Asian Studies. Dr. Sopa
was instrumental in developing one of the world's leading programs
in the scholarly study of Tibetan Buddhism. As a Tibetan Buddhist
monk and teacher, Dr. Sopa also founded the Deer Park Buddhist
Center in Oregon, WI, an institution for the study and practice
of Buddhism. Deer Park has been host to some of the most prominent
teachers of the Tibetan tradition, including the present Dalai
Lama, who, in 1981, offered the Kalacakra initiation at Deer Park--the
first such initiation presented in the West.
Tibet is a country that has long captured the imagination of the
world outside its borders. Locked away in a fortress of the Himalayas
between China and the Indian sub-continent, Tibet has often been
referred to as the "Roof of the World," the "Land
of Snows," and "Shangri-La." The Tibetan culture
and civilization has existed over 2000 years, first ruled by a
long succession of kings, and more recently by an incarnated lineage
of Dalai Lamas. While Tibet enjoyed otherwise peaceful and friendly
relations with its neighbors, Chinese communist troops invaded
and occupied it in 1959 forcing the Dalai Lama and 100,000 Tibetans
to cross over the Himalayan ranges to seek asylum in India, Nepal,
and Bhutan. By the time China crushed the uprising, 87,000 Tibetans
were dead in the Lhasa region alone.
Since the flight of the Dalai Lama
and 100,000 Tibetans in 1959, Western countries such as the United
States, Canada, and Switzerland have graciously accepted a large
number of Tibetan refugees, while a large number still remain
in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
continues to lead his people from his government-in-exile in India.
In the 1990s, the United States allowed 1,000 Tibetans living
in exile in India to immigrate to the U.S. These Tibetans continue
to adapt to a new culture while preserving their cultural heritage
at the same time.
The films featured in the special
series, The Roof of the World: Films from the Himalayas,
at this year's Wisconsin Film Festival offer a cinematic journey
through the Himalayan region, exploring the story of the Tibetan
people living in Tibet, and those living in exile; highlighting
the historical legacies, human sacrifice, religious ideology,
and the struggle to preserve the cultural identity of the Tibetan
people.
Acclaimed around the world, What
Remains of Us, a documentary by François
Prévost and Hugo Latulippe, is a harrowing look at life
in contemporary Tibet. The film follows Kalsang Dolma, a young
woman who has lived in Montreal since childhood, who smuggles
a message from the Dalai Lama, recorded on DVD, into Tibet. Families,
nuns, young people gather around the tiny screen, transfixed,
and for the first time, the voices of this fragile people, their
hopes and fears for the future are expressed. In the stunning
documentary, Wheel of Time, by master German filmmaker Werner
Herzog, the sacred Buddhist ritual, the Kalachakra initiation,
is documented in Bodh Gaya, India and Graz, Austria. The camera
wanders through hundreds and thousands of pilgrims who have come
from far and wide, some prostrating themselves over mountains
and rocky streams to receive the Dalai Lama's teachings. Herzog
captures the human detail of the power of faith and community.
Daughters of Everest is a captivating
account of the first expedition of Sherpa women to climb Mount
Everest in 2000. To the Sherpas, Mount Everest is a holy place;
she is 'Chomolongma', "Mother Goddess of the Universe."
Historically men held the positions of lead guides, until five
charismatic women (with varying levels of ability) were selected
to train to climb Everest. This is an absorbing and inspiring
story of strength and determination.
Tian Zhuangzhuang is one of the
most prominent filmmakers in China's Fifth Generation who directed
the controversial film The Blue Kite (1993). Delamu
('Tea Horse Route'), Tian's new film, is about the highest
and most perilous of China's ancient trading routes, originating
in western Yunnan, ascending the Tibetan plateau, winding through
the edges of the Himalayas into Nepal and Bhutan and leading into
India. Tian Zhuangzhuang sets out to document the Chinese-Tibetan
origins of this route. Travellers & Magicians is the first
feature film ever shot in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The
director, Khyentse Norbu, won acclaim for his first film The Cup.
In this film, the breathtaking scenery is set against a weaving
tale about two men who seek to escape their mundane lives. The
tale mimics reality and offers a Buddhist teaching on the consequences
of one's actions. In We're No Monks,
Director Pema Dhondup shows a world of Tibetans strikingly different
from that usually perceived by the west. McLeod Ganj, also known
as little Lhasa in India, is a few kilometers above Dharamshala--the
home of the Tibetan Government in Exile, and His Holiness the
Dalai Lama. This film tells of the younger generation of Tibetans,
surrounded by foreign influences and Westernization; caught between
their traditional upbringings and their dreams and aspirations.
Unlike most, this film portrays the possibility of young Tibetans
taking the path of violence as a means of fighting for their cause,
something that the Dalai Lama is strongly against.
