“Dreaming of Tibet,” a film about the resilience of the human spirit, screened at the new home of Barcelona’s Casa del Tibet on June 11. The event was co-hosted by the United Nations Association of Spain and Casa del Tibet’s founder, the Venerable Thubten Wangchen. With the film’s director Will Parrinello in attendance, Thubten Wangchen led a post screening discussion with the film’s audience. The screening came off without incident.
Last fall, Wangchen and Parrinello experienced the reach of China’s influence when a scheduled screening of the documentary at the Barcelona International Film Festival of Human Rights was nearly scuttled. “Dreaming of Tibet” was to be shown at the Barcelona cultural center, Casa Asia, that China has financially supported. At the last minute, a theater administrator said she couldn’t find a print of the documentary for the screening. When Parrinello told her he had a DVD copy she could use, the administrator said it would be impossible. Only after Parrinello threatened to create a stir in the local press and he phoned festival officials did the administrator relent. The next day, festival organizers said the Chinese Embassy in Madrid had pressured Casa Asia to not screen the film.
“Dreaming of Tibet” explores the life of Tibetan exiles living in Nepal and the United States. For most of them, leaving Chinese-occupied Tibet was a life-or-death journey on foot over snowbound Himalayan passes to an uncertain reception. In refugee camps, newly established Buddhist monasteries, or foreign cities, the survivors struggle to adapt to new conditions and still keep alive the hope of some day returning to their homeland. The film was the recipient of a Silver Audience Award at the Amnesty International Film Festival in Vancouver, BC.
