Tibet in Song | |
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Directed by | Ngawang Choephel |
Written by | Ngawang Choephel and Tara Steele |
Produced by | Ngawang Choephel |
Edited by | Tim Bartlett |
Production company | Guge Productions |
Distributed by | New Yorker Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | English Tibetan |
Tibet in Song is a 2009 documentary film written, produced, and directed by Ngawang Choephel. The film celebrates traditional Tibetan folk music while depicting the past fifty years of Chinese rule in Tibet, including Ngawang's experience as a political prisoner. The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, [2] [3] where it won the Special Jury Prize for World Cinema. It opened in theatres on September 24, 2010 in New York City. [4]
Tibet in Song tells the story of Ngawang Choephel, a Tibetan exile and former Fulbright scholar at Middlebury College, who returns to Tibet in 1995 to videotape traditional music and dance. [5] The films follows his travels throughout the country recording music and understanding the impact of Chinese communist rule on Tibetan culture and everyday life. The movie contends that the Chinese authorities re-purposed traditional Tibetan music to forward their own agenda and propaganda. [6]
Two months into the trip, after he'd sent a batch of material back to friends in India, Chinese intelligence agents arrested Choephel and confiscated his camera, notes, and videotape. He was convicted of spying, without a trial, and sentenced to 18 years in prison. While in prison he continued his research, transcribing songs from prisoners and eventually memorizing songs after his notes were confiscated. [7] His mother launched a tireless campaign for his freedom, and in January 2002, he was released. [8]
The film received positive reviews from critics and the Tibetan community in exile. On January 24, 2009 the film was awarded the Special Jury Prize for World Cinema at the Sundance Film Festival and Ngawang Choephel became the first Tibetan to win an award at Sundance. [9]
Marc Levin is an American independent film producer and director. He is best known for his Brick City TV series, which won the 2010 Peabody award and was nominated for an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking and his dramatic feature film, Slam, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Caméra d'Or at Cannes in 1998. He also has received three Emmy Awards and the 1997 DuPont-Columbia Award.
Ngawang Wangyal, aka Sogpo (Mongolian) Wangyal, popularly known as Geshe Wangyal and "America's first lama," born Lidjin Keerab was a Buddhist lama and scholar of Kalmyk origin. He was born in the Astrakhan province in southeast Russia sometime in 1901 and died in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1983. He came to the United States from Tibet in 1955 and was the spiritual leader of the Kalmuk Buddhist community in Freewood Acres, New Jersey at the Rashi Gempil-Ling Buddhist Temple. He is considered a "founding figure" of Buddhism in the West.
Ngawang Choephel is a documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and musician.
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Ngawang may refer to: