Films with: Sarin, Ritu

Lha sa'i mi lam Dreaming Lhasa /

Tibetan filmmaker Karma travels from New York to Dharamsala to interview political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. There she meets Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has come to India to fulfill his dying mother's last wish--to deliver a charm box to a long-missing resistance fighter. Soon Karma finds herself caught up in his quest, which becomes both a journey into Tibet's fractured past and a voyage of self-discovery.

DVD 9672

Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche

"Choenzey is a 47-year-old Tibetan monk who lives in exile in a Buddhist monastery in southern India. His spiritual master, Khensur Rinpoche, has been dead four years. But according to Tibetan belief, the Rinpoche will be reincarnated and it is Choenzey's responsibility to find the reincarnation and look after him. This utterly fascinating and compelling film follows Choenzey's search and eventual discovery of an impish but gentle four-year-old who is recognized by the Dalai Lama to be the looked-for reincarnation."--Distributor web site.

DVD 9599

Shadow circus the CIA in Tibet /

Discusses how the CIA aided the Tibetan people in their war of resistance against the Chinese invasion during the 1950s and 60s.

DVD 3308

Stranger in my native land

The personal account, by a Tibetan exile who was born and raised in India, of his journey through Tibet. He visits the city of Lhasa and locates relatives who remained behind when his parents fled after World War II and finds that Tibetan language and culture are in decline, having been largely replaced by Chinese.

DVD 3314

Thread of karma

"In 1991, filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam made 'The Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche', which followed the search of a Tibetan monk, named Choenzey, to find the reincarnation of his recently deceased master, Khensur Rinpoche, and documented Choenzey's eventual discovery of a four-year-old boy recognized by the Dalai Lama to be the one. Without sentimentality, the film captured the moving relationship that developed between the erstwhile disciple and his young master. Sixteen years later, the directors revisit the reincarnation at Drepung Monastery in South India, where he has been brought up within the age-old traditions of Tibetan Buddhist monastic life. He is now 20 years old, and his devoted attendant, Choenzey, continues to take care of him. His spiritual teacher is Geshe Wangchen, one of the most respected masters in the monastery, who was himself a disciple of Khensur Rinpoche. 'The Thread of Karma' offers an intimate look at the life of the young lama as he aspires to live up to the reputation of his former incarnation. It also explores his moving relationship with the two people closest to him, his attendant and his spiritual master, both of whom were connected to him in his previous life. By focusing on these ties that cut across lifetimes, the film paints a touching and insightful portrait of the Rinpoche even as it demystifies the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of reincarnation" -- http://www.berkeleymedia.com/catalog/berkeleymedia.

DVD 9600