Media coverage: Tibetan Film Festival 2006
Dharamshala plays host to weeklong Tibetan film festival
DHARAMSHALA, India, 2 May 2006 (ANI) — A weeklong Tibetan film festival has begun in Dharamshala, the headquarters of the Dalai Lama.
Over all sixteen films will be screened during the festival, eight of which are Tibetan.
A Chinese film titled "House of Flying Draggers" and Canadian Indian film maker-director Deepa Mehta's "Water" are among the main attractions of the festival.
"The festival will be run for seven days from May 1. We are screening sixteen films in total. There will be eight Tibetan films and rest are from the Indian and International filmmakers. Eight filmmakers are from the last two to three years and it is quite encouraging to see that Tibetans are catching up with this medium comparing to last five to ten years we had almost five to six Tibetan films, and now today, we are showing Water which is a Deepa Mehta film. We are also screening a Chinese film 'House of Flying Daggers' by a famous Chinese director. The main idea of this festival is make people see and judge themselves the concept of the film.
"It is to bring the joy of cinema and power of cinema to people" said Lobsang Wangyal, the organiser of the film festival.
Tourists are also in town to see the festival.
"It's a great chance to show the real feeling inside the Tibetan people. And for the people outside of this community here, they can help in so many ways," said Chamb Meehan, an American national.
Tibetans have been living in India since the Dalai Lama, accompanied by his followers, and fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Beijing's Communist rule.
Devout Tibetans resent what they see as Chinese occupation of their land.