By ANGELA DOLAND
CANNES, France – Two filmmakers at Cannes took extreme precautions Sunday to make sure the people they interviewed for a rare documentary filmed in Tibet would not face a crackdown by Chinese authorities.
To make sure the footage did not fall into the wrong hands, moviegoers were searched at the door for cameras and recording devices.
“What Remains of Us,” playing at the Cannes Film Festival, offers a rare and moving look at ordinary people in Tibet talking frankly about the hardships of the Chinese occupation.
Over eight years, two Canadian filmmakers posed as tourists to make risky trips into Tibet, interviewing people in monasteries, tents, fields and homes. They have been cautious to ensure their subjects cannot be identified and punished by Chinese authorities.
Despite the dangers, most Tibetans were happy to speak, even on camera, said one of the directors, Hugo Latulippe.
“The world doesn’t listen much to their story,” Latulippe said. “So when foreigners come, they want to speak about their problems.”
The filmmakers put themselves at risk by smuggling in a video message from the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader exiled in India. People in Tibet can be arrested merely for having a photo of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who is peacefully pressing for Tibetan autonomy.
The movie’s premise is simple: The filmmakers stored the Dalai Lama’s message in a tiny laptop and secretly showed it to Tibetans. Then they recorded people’s reactions.
The most moving scenes show Tibetans crouched around the tiny computer screen. One elderly woman with a deeply lined face weeps as she clutches a small child. Stylish teenage girls in a city apartment break into tears.
In a cold and wind-swept field, a family kneels on the grass around the screen, hands pressed together in prayer.
In the message, the Dalai Lama says that while China is still deeply repressive, it is in the midst of change. He also asks people to study and work hard to prepare for a better future.
“Tibet, and we the Tibetans, deserve respect,” he says.
To protect the identity of the listeners, the filmmakers shot many of their scenes in hard-to-reach areas. They also interspersed footage from different regions to make it tougher to guess where scenes were shot. Since the film wrapped, they have made as few copies as possible.
Latulippe and fellow director Francois Prevost, who also is a doctor, teamed up with a young Canadian of Tibetan origin, Kalsang Dolma, who was born in a refugee camp in India. She was the filmmakers’ guide, translator and narrator, and she also sang traditional songs on the soundtrack.
The movie played at Cannes in a critics’ showcase. It already has been shown at a lower-profile documentary festival in Toronto, also under tight security.
The filmmakers are looking for international distributors in Cannes. But any deals will be contingent on guarantees of thorough searches at theater entrances.
“We’re not naive about it,” said Jacques Bensimon, film commissioner and chairman of the National Film Board of Canada. “But we want to protect as much as possible the people who agreed to be in the film.”
