Dreaming Lhasa

Dreaming Lhasa (2007)

Karma, a Tibetan filmmaker from New York, goes to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's exile headquarters in northern India, to make a documentary about former political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. She wants to reconnect with her roots but is also escaping a deteriorating relationship back home.One of Karma's interviewees is Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has just escaped from Tibet. He confides in her that his real reason for coming to India is to fulfill his dying mother's last wish, to deliver a charm box to a long-missing resistance fighter. Karma finds herself unwittingly falling in love with Dhondup even as she is sucked into the passion of his quest, which becomes a journey into Tibet's fractured past and a voyage of self-discovery

Date of release
2007-04-13
TMDB
5.4 / 10 (6)
Runtime
1h 30m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Tenzing Sonam, Ritu Sarin

Casting

Interesting facts

Dreaming Lhasa is a Tibetan-language film by veteran documentary filmmakers, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, who have been making films about various aspects of Tibet under the banner of White Crane Films since 1990. Written by Tenzing, a first-generation Tibetan born and brought up in exile, Dreaming Lhasa is perhaps, the first Tibetan feature film to explore the state of exile and the issues of identity, culture and politics as they affect the Tibetan refugee community in India.

Production

In the absence of any kind of a film industry among the exile Tibetan community, the film was shot using a cast almost entirely made up of non-professionals. Only Jampa Kalsang, who plays Dhondup, had some prior acting experience. The rest of the cast was chosen through a casting call sent out on Tibet-related websites, and through an auditioning process in Dharamsala, India, where much of the film was shot.

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