By Martin J. Kidston
Karma Tensum understands the Tibetan plight as well as anyone. He also knows how to affect change, even if it can only happen one small step at a time.
Tensum, exiled from Tibet since 1959, will discuss the challenges of cultural preservation at Helena’s first-ever Tibetan Film Festival, scheduled for Friday night at Carroll College.
Organized by the Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation and sponsored by Carroll’s department of philosophy, the program will feature a series of short films, starting with a documentary focused on Tibetan nuns who are versed in religious oppression and human rights abuses.
“The documentary seeks to understand the basis and inspiration of non-violence,” Tensum said. “Our second movie, ‘Windhorse,’ is like a political drama. It’s fictional, but it does talk about the reality of Chinese oppression and the Tibetan effort to keep their culture intact.”
The third film, “Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh,” studies the impacts that Western-style development has had on the indigenous people of Ladakh. The remote mountain community has survived unchanged for thousands of years, until recently.
“The film shows the old way of how people lived in Ladakh, and how modern development changed their lives,” Tensum said. “It’s trying to learn from Ladakh, showing how development can change a civilization.”
A similar film festival was held in Missoula last year. Because the Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation has thrived for more than a decade in Helena, it was time, Tensum said, to bring the show home.
“There is a growing awareness of Tibetan customs and Tibetan culture,” Tensum said. “We feel the people of Montana, the people of Helena, are accepting and have an emotional connection to Tibetan issues.”
Tibetan culture isn’t entirely foreign to Helena or Western Montana. Down in Arlee, a Tibetan spiritual teacher has established an “ewam,” or a Buddhist community.
In Basin, Tibetan artists, or thangka artists, have painted religious scrolls that celebrate Buddhist cosmology.
In Helena, Tibetan gongs have helped locals unify the mind and the body. Monks have spent days creating soothing sand mandalas.
“I have not been able to explain the connection Montana has with Tibet,” Tensum said. “But as a Tibetan living here in Montana, I sense this emotional support.”
The foundation has already established an education center in Clement Town, located in Northern India where Tensum grew up in exile.
Now, the foundation is working to create a second center in Sikkim, located in north-eastern India.
“One of the biggest challenges is the huge influx of Chinese into Tibet,” Tensum said. “There are more ethnic Chinese in Tibet than ethnic Tibetans. When you’re trying to practice an ancient culture, but you’re surrounded by a Chinese majority, it poses challenges.”
Berry Ferst, professor of philosophy at Carroll College, helped bring the festival to Helena and the school.
“We have a chance to bring in films about Tibet, about Buddhism,” said Ferst. “It fits into Carroll’s academic tradition of reaching out to other cultures and religions.”
