SPECIAL GUEST: Director Ngawang Choephel and speaker TBD
Ganden is the most influential monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, likened by Buddhists to the Vatican. It is here where the Dalai Lama’s lineage began. For more than 500 years, monks lived in Ganden in simplicity and contentment, before the Chinese invasion drove them from their beloved home to start anew in India. Embodying the strength and joy their tradition teaches, survivors of the exodus tell of their lives in the old and new Ganden in Ngawang Choephel’s moving film, made in collaboration with creative consultant Annie Lennox. Filmed on location at Ganden Monastery in India, and featuring contemporary interviews with survivors of the exodus, animations, and remarkable documentary footage from 1940s Tibet, the film honors the stories of the monks’ lives in both the old and new Ganden.
In English and Tibetan with English subtitles. Director: Ngawang Choephel (India/USA 2019) 76 min.
NGAWANG CHOEPHEL is a Sundance Jury Award Winner for his first film Tibet in Song. He was born in Dawa, a small county in western Tibet. He was arrested by Chinese authorities in Tibet during the filming of Tibet in Song and subsequently spent six and a half years in prison. In 2002 he received the Courage of Conscience Award from Peace Abbey for showing resilience in the face of adversity.
SUNDAY, APRIL 30 • 4:30
$13.25 General | $9.75 Seniors & Youth | $7.75 CAFILM members