INTRODUCTION

Greetings and Tashi Delek. My name is Tenzin Dasel and I am a Tibetan filmmaker based in Paris, France. Some of you may have seen my earlier work such as the short films SEEDS and ROYAL CAFE. I have been working on a new feature film called DHARAMSALA and a lot of the preparation work has been done – I have the script, the cast, the crew ready and scouted the locations. I have assembled a top team of Tibetan creative professionals to bring this whole project to fruition and with your help, we can make it happen to shoot the film and get it out there! Thank you and please keep reading to find out more! 

THE FILM

Dharamsala, a small town on the edge of the Indian Himalayas, has been the heart of the exile
Tibetan world for six decades. It is the residence of the Dalai Lama, the seat of the exile Tibetan government, and home to many other important Tibetan cultural and religious institutions. But along its narrow shop-lined lanes and in the houses clinging to the hillsides, it is also where the hopes, aspirations, and pain of Tibetans living far from their homeland are lived, and where the drama of ordinary human lives unfold.

Dharamsala 2022 (photo courtesy Abhishek Raghuwanshi)

THE IDEA  

The idea for the film came to me in the winter of 2016 when I attended the Dharamsala International Film Festival. It was thrilling to be at the festival which had shortlisted my last film, “ROYAL CAFE”, and exciting to be back in my hometown and the place where I grew up after being away so long. One night I had gathered on a terrace with a few old friends and the talk turned to our childhood and school days. Everyone took turns reliving those days and speaking of their experiences, both funny and painful. And as each person started talking, my mind started to go back and forth between where we were today and the kids we once were, and at that moment I knew that I had found the storyline for a film.   

THE STORY 

The film revolves around Tsangdo, a notorious young man with sleep paralysis and a history of getting into trouble with the law. After yet another incident in Majnuka Tilla, New Delhi’s Tibetan area, he skips town and goes up to Dharamsala to lay low. 

Back in the place where he grew up, he naturally starts hanging out with old school buddies. But the last thing he expected was running into Gen-Tiger, an old school teacher who is visiting Dharamsala after many years of being in America. It is the encounter that Tsangdo has been running through his mind for all these years, and that his life on the mean streets makes him perfectly suited to carry out. 

Tsangdo and the teacher’s showdown is interwoven with the stories of other characters,  such
as Mila and Lobi, two old school friends who lead marginal lives in Dharamsala, Yega from Switzerland, who was adopted at an early age, is now in town to find her roots, and Zac, a longtime Austrian expat in Dharamsala who falls for her. Monlam, a scholarly ex-monk who takes drastic steps due to financial hardship, and Phurtok, a career civil servant and fervent member of the ‘language police’, who yearns for a life in America. 

(The film teaser shared above is a test shot we did in December 2018).

MEET THE CAST 

An exciting line-up of real life Tibetan actors, writers, musicians, and visual artists around the world who have each helped shape the characters and plotlines in my mind and therefore inspired me in bringing the script to full completion.

Please find below a little more information about them.

TENZIN DALHA as TSANGDO

Tenzin Dalha is an Indian actor of Tibetan origin. He was born and brought up in New Delhi. His first appearance was in the movie “Margarita With A Straw”.  Following the success of his debut film, he appeared in varied films working close to prominent names of the Bollywood film industry. You can watch his films on Netflix.

Margarita With a Straw (film)

Axone  (film)

99 songs  (film) 

Guilty (film)

Aarya (season 2) (web series)

The great escape (tv series) 

www.mansworldindia.com

LOSANG GYATSO as GEN – TIGER

Losang Gyatso was born in Lhasa, Tibet but has lived most of his life in the UK and the US. He started making art in the early 1990s while working as an advertising art director in New York City. Initially a process of reconciling his own identity after having lived for decades in exile, his work evolved over time from explorations of Tibetan petroglyphs, mythology, and Buddhist ideas, towards a more universal, abstract, and playful way of seeing the world that some have described as being both sensual and spiritual. 

Gyatso’s other media related work include playing the Lord Chamberlain role in the Martin Scorcese film, Kundun, reading for Simon & Schuster Audiobooks, and serving as Service Chief for Voice of America’s Tibetan Language Service for ten years.

You can watch KUNDUN – a Martin Scorsese film now available on YouTube.

www.gyatsostudio.com

YESHE GYALTAG as YEGA

Yeshe Gyaltag aka YESH is a Tibetan singer/artist born and raised in Switzerland, based in New York. Her parents were among the first Tibetans to take exile in Switzerland. 

In 2020 she released her debut EP hours 2147 with pique projects. Her latest work 49 days – a dance / sound based theatre piece created together with the collective xenometok – premiered in early 2022 at the Theaterhaus Gessnerallee in Zurich. YESH recently performed at Le Consulat in Paris and the Rubin museum of art in NYC. Her music and visuals were featured in nowness nowness Asia, dazed and office magazine.

you can listen to her on: Spotify, Apple Music

 watch her music videos  on Youtube  

TEN PHUN as MILA

Ten Phun is a Tibetan poet, actor, and writer based in Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala India. He was born in Tibet, Lhasa, and educated briefly in Lhasa, before studying in TCV School in India. He has published his first book of poetry Sweet Butter Tea in 2015 (available on Amazon), and a book Stone Flower in 2021. He acted in The Sweet Requiem a film by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam. 

LOBSANG TASHI as LOBI

Lobsang Tashi is a Tibetan actor based in Dharamsala, India. He has worked in few short films and is active in d.r.i.f.t a theatre company in Dharamsala. 

drifttheatre.org

URBAN JULIAN as ZAC

Urban Julian is of Austrian origin, born & brought up in Dharamsala. He studied in TCV school and has his film making degree from London. He is the co-founder of the café gallery THE OTHER SPACE in Dharamsala where emerging established artists around the globe are exhibited.

TENOR SHARLHO as PHURTOK

Tenor Sharlho was born in Lhasa, Tibet & studied in TCV school, India. He is a fashion designer by profession, specialised in ethical fashion. He has his own brand SHARLHO and his own boutique in Dharamsala. 

TENZIN LEKMON as MONLAM

Tenzin Lekmon was born in Chaundhara, India. He was a former monk and is now a photographer/videographer at RFA (Radio Free Asia) in Dharamsala. 

MEET THE CREW

TENZIN DAZEL – DIRECTOR

Tenzin Dazel was born in India & schooled in TCV, Upper Dharamsala. She obtained her Masters in Fashion in Paris – Institute Français de la Mode & worked as a designer for a few major brands. She made her first short film SEEDS in 2009, followed by her longer short film ROYAL CAFE in 2016. DHARAMSALA will be her directorial debut feature film which she wrote & cast.

You can check out her two earlier films at  dazelfilms.com

A Review of ROYAL CAFE in Huffington post by Tenzin Dorjee

TENZIN KALDEN – CINEMATOGRAPHER 

Tenzin Kalden is a Dharamsala based cinematographer and a second generation Tibetan born in India. He was a Fulbright scholar and studied filmmaking at DFA in New York City. After completing his film studies in 2015, he has worked in the camera department of numerous projects, including feature films, ads, music videos, shorts and documentaries. Tenzin’s last project was Light A Candle, a 30 minute documentary that he shot and directed. The film was screened at Dharamshala International Film Festival and Woodstock Film Festival in 2019.  

He is the cofounder of  Drung   (a Tibetan filmmakers collective)

ABHISHEK RAGHUWANSHI – CINEMATOGRAPHER

Abhishek Raghuwanshi was born in Varanasi, India. He started his filmmaking career in 2014 in Delhi working as a freelancer. He has filmed documentaries, short films, feature films, advertisements and music videos around all India.

His films : BIRTHDAY CAKE (2017)  HOSTEL 10 (2017)  PB0931 (2018) DHOOL (2022)

Abhishek’s few shots during recce in Dharamsala. (2022)

TENZIN KUNCHOK – EDITOR 

Tenzin Kunchok is the co-founder of Mogstar Media, a boutique production house based out of Delhi NCR specializing in providing audio-visual solutions for the development sector and corporate clients.

He is a recipient of the prestigious National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film-Editing.

He has directed and edited films for a host of clients including UN Women, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, BBC Media Action, Action Against Hunger, Hindustan Unilever Foundation, NACO, Piramal Foundation, Al Jazeera, London and the US based PBS.

He started his career as an editor with BBC World Service Trust where he worked on the award-winning HIV-AIDS awareness show ‘Haath se Haath Milaa’ for 3 seasons.

BEJON K VINOD – LINE PRODUCER

Bejon K Vinod is a filmmaker from Kerala, India. He has worked as a Line producer in feature films, as Production for Dharamshala International film festival for several years. He has been Production head for various artist in Kochi’s Muziris Biennale and have experienced in all other production departments as well.  

His Jon’b production is a  film & television production company, based in Kerala and already have released two short films titled KOLACHATHI & CHUTTU that received numerous awards at festivals and appreciation on social media. Jon’B Production provides Line production service for music videos, television commercials and feature films. 

WHY WE ARE HERE?

There are many risks and challenges to making an independent Tibetan film in exile. In his review of my film “ROYAL CAFE” in The Huffington Post, writer and activist Tenzin Dorjee said, ‘Cinema is a demanding and high-maintenance medium of art. While a poet only needs a pen, and a painter only her brush, a filmmaker needs to assemble a maddening range of tools, expensive equipment and other resources before getting started. The high barrier to entry means that the landscape of Tibetan cinema has proved less fertile compared to the lush jungles of Tibetan poetry, prose and paintings. For refugees and exiles, whose political status and personal survival are always on shaky grounds, even making a low-budget film can be a herculean task.’

Which is why I made my first two films with almost no budget. It was the only way to roll
film. “SEEDS”, an experimental film about young Tibetans in Delhi, was shot in 2009 while on vacation from work. It was filmed using friends and volunteers as cast members and a Super 8 camera that I had bought in a second hand store in Paris. Likewise, with “ROYAL CAFÉ” in 2016, a film about the transient life of recent immigrant Tibetans in Paris, it was more, ‘beg, borrow, and steal’ than, ‘location budget, crew budget, talent budget’.  And I must say that although we Tibetans are usually culturally constrained from promoting ourselves too easily, I am super proud of those two films. Mainly because they tell stories of who we are today and how our lives are playing out, stories nobody else will, or can tell. 

That’s why it was both gratifying and humbling to have a film review in the Huffington Post say, “In a sense, Dazel has made the first anti-Shangrila film. Unlike the virtuous Tibetan Buddhists of Western imagination, or the political victims always portrayed collectively in mainstream narratives, Dazel’s Tibetans are individuals who are hurt and scarred but not entirely innocent, who are as lost in their own thoughts as in this world, who have big dreams but little hope, who have landed in Paris but are stuck in Royal Cafe, a sad coffee house that is anything but royal. Yet these individuals, amid their dehumanizing circumstances, miraculously manage to create small moments of kindness that somehow preserve their humanity and dignity.”

The reason we succeeded in producing “ROYAL CAFE” with no budget is because it was a compact film that took place in one place and with virtually the entire cast and crew being local. However a film like “Dharamsala” has all of the problems inherent in the practice of exile Tibetan filmmaking. Unlike almost every other society, exile Tibetans are faced with a situation where we are spread across countries and continents. This makes it that much harder to work with the already very small number of creatives involved in the movie making process. Fortunately, “ROYAL CAFE”, struck a chord with Tibetan artists around the world and many have expressed their trust and encouragement, and offered to work with me in future projects. This is why even throughout the pandemic period, I was able to assemble cast and crew members, do location hunting, and complete an 80 page screenplay for “Dharamsala”. 

WHY CROWDFUND? 

Basically, because there are no other options to raise capital for films in the Tibetan language that speak to the Tibetan audience. Institutions and media companies that might fund a travel film, or a documentary on Tibetan culture or religion geared for a Western audience, have no interest in a film such as mine. Also, the growing influence of China and their willingness to apply pressure on cultural institutions when it comes to Tibet has increased self-censorship and distancing from projects like ours. 

That’s why I and the entire cast and crew need your support to make “Dharamsala” happen! The funds will go towards travel, board and lodging, nominal pay for cast and crew so that we start establishing a film production culture, and post-production.

So please, help us bring “Dharamsala” to the screen, and help take another step in establishing independent Tibetan filmmaking! 

REWARDS!

Thank you to the few Tibetans Artists who without hesitation voluntarily contributed here for the rewards. They are not many Tibetan artists from the exile community out there in the whole world so please do know that it is very special what we are offering here. 

TENZIN GYURMEY DORJEE – ARTIST 

Gyurmey’s work celebrates the history and culture of the Tibetan diaspora in India through intimate portrayals of his family, friends and close relatives. His work carry memories and fragments of the Tibetan history navigating the present that is steeped in the modern western and Indian influences. Juxtaposing these influences, He manipulate them further to heighten the sense of surrealism that is present in our every day lives. 

He paints on tarp sacks, or drochak-bhureh (barley sacks) as the Tibetan diaspora call it, because they are an inseparable part of his childhood in India.  Given by the USA to the Tibetan refugees, these bhureh were an unmissable sight in Tibetan households, schools and factories alike.  To him, this material bears testament to the way the Tibetan diaspora have planted themselves in a new culture, and undergone changes in their own culture. 

He is currently based in New Delhi, India. 

Portraits from the Tibetan diaspora

“I shouldn’t be here” – Exhibition opening 

Title : Whisper  / Medium : Acrylic and gold leaf on tarp 

Title : The sky is falling. / Medium: Acrylic and tape on tarp.

Title : Not Intentional / Medium : Acrylic on Tarp

Title : Gorshey (the dance) / Medium: Digital 

Gyurmey is the artist behind our poster. After hearing the story, he immediately started drawing… The poster actually tells you the whole story in its detail if you look closer. He also did it for the cast and crew and to support this film. 

LOSANG GYATSO – ARTIST

Losang Gyatso was born in Lhasa, Tibet but has lived most of his life in the UK and the US. He started making art in the early 1990s while working as an advertising art director in New York City. Initially a process of reconciling his own identity after having lived for decades in exile, his work evolved over time from explorations of Tibetan petroglyphs, mythology, and Buddhist ideas, towards a more universal, abstract, and playful way of seeing the world that some have described as being both sensual and spiritual. 

Title : Bather (1993) 12×16 inches

TSERING TOPGYAL – PHOTOGRAPHER 

Tsering Topgyal was born in Tibet and schooled in Tibetan Children’s Village School in Dharamsala. He worked at the Associated Press. Currently he’s documenting the material memories and stories of early exile days of the Tibetans. 

He was one of the Magnum 30 under 30 Photographers for the year 2015. His work appears in the publications like The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian etc.

Tsering Topgyal will be covering our behind the scenes work and I am including few selected pictures for the rewards as well. 

Tsering Topgyal gallery

Jammu and Kashmir, India 2014

Dolpo, Nepal, 2018

Nashik, India, 2015

Ladhak, India 2014

Dharamsala, India 2014

SONAM YESHI – ARTIST / DESIGNER

Sonam Yeshi is a Tibetan-American contemporary artist and designer who the different cultures she was exposed to through a combination of traditional and contemporary techniques to create a wide body of artwork, ranging from painting to interiors and product development.

Sonam spent ten years working with Norbulingka Institute, in Dharamsala, creating products and working with the artists. She has also traveled in Tibet and gained inspiration from the people, animals and landscape there. Both these perspectives have given her a unique edge as a talented and sensitive Tibetan artist.

She is creative director and designer at Norbulingka Institute.

Sonamyeshi.art

Unique Tibetan printed scarves by Sonam Yeshi.

Sonam Yeshi Art Prints – EVOLUTION  I  TIBETAN WOMEN SERIES