60-minute documentary on Tibetan exile
By Will Parrinello
In isolated communities around the world, particularly in India, Nepal and the United States, Tibetan exiles have created a ‘virtual Tibet,’ where they have endured and even flourished in the face of overwhelming adversity.
“Dreaming of Tibet” follows their arduous journeys from Tibet into exile over a 19,000-foot Himalayan pass. It’s a flight that the Dalai Lama took in 1958 and over 150,000 of his followers have taken since then. Most have only minimal clothing and meager provisions to make the life-threatening trek. Many die along the way.
This intimate documentary is about the resilience of the human spirit under the most dire circumstances. The film looks at the lives of three extraordinary Tibetan exiles who have survived in exile and are deeply involved in working for the survival of their culture. They are, in short, Ms. Tseten Phanucharas, a political activist who is one of the Dalai Lama’s press coordinators in Los Angeles; Ms. Tsering Lhamo, a nurse working with recent refugees in Kathmandu, Nepal; and Mr. Ngawang Ugyen, a monk in the Mt. Everest foothills.
“Dreaming of Tibet” captures the difficult challenges they each face and conveys the sense of hope they bring to their day-to-day lives in spite of great hardship and loss.
The film is narrated by Peter Coyote, Michael Tucker and Losang Gyatso and features His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Author/Climber Jon Krakauer, with appearances by Actors Richard Gere and Goldie Hawn.
“Dreaming of Tibet” won an Audience Award at the Amnesty International Film Festival. The film was produced by the Mill Valley Film Group, which made the highly acclaimed “Kerouac,” “Little Italy,” “Angle of Inspiration,” “Compassion is the Key,” “Sumo Basho,” and “A Yen For Baseball.”
Broadcast Premiere on Sunday, May 8, 6pm on KQED-TV, Channel 9, San Francisco as part of Asian Heritage Month.
Contact: Will Parrinello, producer-director, Mill Valley Film Group,
