Robert A.F. Thurman on Tibet

Karmapa - Two Ways of Divinity

March 1998 •English

The main characters of the film are two small boys who share the throne of Karmapa, the highest office of one of Tibetan Buddhism's main sects and the third in line after the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. As with the Dalai Lama, Karmapa is the same soul which reincarnates in each successor to the office, who is identified by omens, portents and other signs. The Karmapa line actually pre-dates the Dalai Lama's, and their respective importance has alternated in the course of history with either the Karmapa or Dalai Lama holding precedence. Only one of the current Karmapas lives in Tibet, who is recognized by the Dalai Lama but controlled by the Chinese government for political ends. The second Karmapa lives in New Delhi, India and was selected by a Tibetan group in exile. The film was shot in India, Nepal and Tibet and features the Dalai Lama as narrator, providing an incisive spiritual and political view of occupied Tibet.

Journey to Kailash

August 2020 •Korean

Blindsight

September 2006 •English

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

Expeditie klein Tibet, Ladakh en Zanskar een laatste shangri-la

January 1980 •Dutch

Documentary on Tibet.

Deconstructing The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour

November 2018 •English

Deconstructing The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour explores the music written for the Magical Mystery Tour TV show, as well as the additional songs that appeared on the 1967 LP. In 1967, The Beatles embarked on an ambitious project, writing and directing a one-hour film, Magical Mystery Tour. The music written for the film is some of The Beatles' psychedelic best. In Deconstructing The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, Mr. Freiman delves into the creative process behind “The Fool On The Hill,” “Blue Jay Way,” “I Am The Walrus,” and other selections from Magical Mystery Tour. Scott will also “deconstruct” other songs from the Magical Mystery Tour album, including “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Penny Lane,” and “All You Need Is Love.”

Compassion in Exile: The Story of the 14th Dalai Lama

July 1993 •English

A portrait of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, which includes historical footage of China's repression of Tibetan Buddhism in 1959.

The Road Leads to Tibet

December 1956 •Czech

Becoming Who I Was

September 2017 •Korean

Angdu is no ordinary boy. Indeed, in a past life he was a venerated Buddhist master. His village already treats him like a saint as a result. The village doctor, who has taken the boy under his wing, prepares him to be able to pass on his wisdom. Alas, Tibet, Angdu’s former homeland and the centre of his faith, lies far away from his current home in the highlands of Northern India. On top of that, the conflict between China and Tibet makes the prospect of a trip there even more daunting. Undeterred by these harsh facts, the duo set off for their destination on foot, accompanied by questions of friendship and the nature of life. With its narrative approach steeped in a serene sense of concentration, this documentary film, composed over a period of eight years, stands as a fundamental experience in its own right.

Brilliant Moon: Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

January 2010 •English

Brilliant Moon chronicles the life of the writer, poet, and meditation master Khyentse Rinpoche, one of Tibet's most revered 20th-century Buddhist teachers. Spiritual guide to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Royal Family of Bhutan, his life and teachings were an inspiration to all who encountered him. Richard Gere and Lou Reed provide the narration for his dangerous journey out of China, the subsequent spread of his influence and the search for his reincarnation after his death.

Joy of Stress

January 1995 •English

Yes, stress can be a positive experience! In this program, humorist and stress-management specialist Loretta LaRoche illustrates how to combat stressful situations with humor, wisdom and patience. Learn how to use humor to de-stress anywhere and anytime -- in traffic jams, at the office or with your family. Break the negative and irrational thought patterns that cause stress and turn them into positive, powerful and productive experiences!

Orphans of Tibet

May 2010 •French

Each year, groups of Tibetan children secretly flee their homeland over the Himalayas to reach schools in India founded by the government in exile. Entrusted to smugglers, they are risking their lives by illegally crossing the great Himalayan range, a towering rampart between Tibet and India. The director will take us in the Mussorie school, in North India, where two thousand four hundred children have been rescued. They have left behind their family childhood and are now considered as orphans. We will discover the itineraries of Sonam, aged nine, and Dholma, the little new girl of the school. Here in India, they are taught about Tibetan culture and will find out about the history of their country and their ancestors. Sonam and Dholma's story is that of thousands of Tibetan children. Are they orphans of a lost country or bearers of hope who will save an endangered culture?

Daughters of Wisdom

June 2007 •English

An intimate portrait of the nuns of Kala Rongo, a rare and exceptional Buddhist Monastery exclusively for women situated in Nangchen, in remote and rural northeastern Tibet. These nuns are receiving religious and educational training previously unavailable to women, and playing an unprecedented role in preserving their rich cultural heritage even as they slowly reshape it. They graciously allow the camera a never-before-seen glimpse into their vibrant spiritual community and insight into their extraordinary lives. Some shy, some outspoken, all are committed to the often difficult life they have chosen, away from the yak farms and herding families of their birth. It is the story of their spiritual community, one that couldn't have existed 20 years ago but is thriving today.

Women 50 Minutes

January 2006 •Chinese

A representation of queer and feminist imagery that was mainly shot in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, remote and developing areas in southwest China, and metropolitan cities like Beijing from 2000 to 2004 to document the social changes in contemporary China. The director sympathetically and erotically represents a variety of women, including women as laborers, women as prayers, women in the ground, women in marriage, and women who lie on the funeral pyre with their dead husbands. Her camera juxtaposes the mountains and rivers in old times, the commercialized handicrafts as exposition, the capital exploitation of the elders’ living space, and the erotic freedom of the young people in a changing city.

Hans Heinz Holz: Spekulatives Denken

February 2019 •German

These last major lectures by Hans Heinz Holz (1927–2011) follow his philosophical reflection from Parmenides to Karl Marx. They were recorded in October 2009 at his home in Sant’Abbondio, Switzerland.

To Be First: The Quest for Yangmolong

January 2014 •English

Among the last unclimbed peaks on earth there stands a little-known mountain in a remote region of China. Follow a climbing expedition as they make three attempts over the span of three years to summit the 6060-meter Yangmolong Mountain.

The Saltmen of Tibet

April 1997 •English

Four men from a nomadic Tibetan tribe undertake their annual, ritualistic pilgrimage to a sacred salt lake. Salt gathered in this traditional fashion will be sold to provide the economic livelihood of the tribe for the coming year. The journey, necessary for the group's survival, also incorporates a number of rituals necessary for their culture to survive in the modern world.

Douglas Adams: Parrots the Universe and Everything

May 2001 •English

Douglas Adams was the best-selling British author and satirist who created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In this talk at UCSB recorded shortly before his death, Adams shares hilarious accounts of some of the apparently absurd lifestyles of the world's creatures, and gleans from them extraordinary perceptions about the future of humanity.

Tibet: The Survival of the Spirit

December 1989 •German

OLO, the Boy from Tibet

June 2012 •Japanese

A 6-year-old Tibetan boy leaves his family and flees to a refugee camp in northern India.

August

April 2024 •Chinese

The documentary marks the directorial debut of Chinese actor Zhang Zhehan, it documents his deeply personal journey of self-healing in the aftermath of a devastating cyber media storm in August 2021 that abruptly halted his acting career.