December
8, 2007
Nepal Film Festival
Gives China Culture Shock By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu
Assured of Nepal's new government's support for its "One China"
policy and refusal to acknowledge Tibet or Taiwan as separate
nations, China nonetheless is about to get a rude shock from an
expected quarters - a film festival.
One of Kathmandu's much-acclaimed festivals, the Kathmandu
International Mountain Film Festival hosted by Himal Association,
that kicked off in the capital Friday includes four films related to
Tibet, of which three are certainly going to be anathema to Beijing.
On Sunday, the City Hall will screen "Dalai Lama Renaissance", the
new documentary on the exiled Tibetan leader's meetings with western
thinkers like quantum physicist FredAlan Wolf and social scientist
Jean Houston.
Directed by Khashyar Darivch, narrated by Bollywood icon Harrison
Ford and released only this summer, the documentary will draw fresh
attention to the Nobel peace laureate who recently ruffled the
Chinese government's feathers saying he would announce the name of
his successor, which would outmanoeuvre Beijing's bid to control his
heir, like they have with another Tibetan leader, the Panchen Lama.
For a succession of Nepal governments, who have wanted good
relations with their giant northern neighbour China, the Dalai Lama
virtually doesn't exist. Under King Gyanendra's influence, the
government closed the office of the Dalai Lama's representative in
Kathmandu and has refused to let it re-open.
Three years ago, when Nepal hosted a Buddhist conference at Lumbini,
the birthplace of the Buddha in south Nepal, the Dalai Lama was not
invited though the heads of other Buddhist states were.
To rub salt into Beijing's wound, the mountain film festival will
screen "Dreaming Lhasa" Monday.
Made by the husband-wife team of Tibetan exile Tenzing Sonam and
Indian Ritu Sarin, the film depicts the plight of the exiled Tibetan
community in India and has been hailed as the first major feature
film by a Tibetan to deal with contemporary Tibet.
In 2005, China tried to pressure the organisers of the Toronto
International Film Festival to remove "Dreaming Lhasa". Though the
organisers refused, Beijing had more success at the Pusan
International Film Festival in South Korea the same year when though
initially chosen for screening, "Dreaming Lhasa" was dropped at the
last moment with no explanation.
When the film premiered in the US in April, to combat it, the
Chinese government promoted "The Silent Holy Stones" - that though
made by a well-regarded Tibetan filmmaker within Tibet, can be used
as Chinese propaganda.
On Tuesday, "Miss Tibet" directed by Dutch Siebout Leseur van
Leeuwen will draw attention to the defiant beauty pageant that is
held at Dharamsala, the seat of the Dalai Lama, in India every year.
Beijing has been trying to prevent the winner of the title from
taking part in other beauty contests, saying Miss China is the
legitimate contender.
Though this year's Miss China went on to sweep the Miss World title,
Miss Tibet continues to be a thorn in Beijing's flesh.
Only this month, China put pressure on Malaysia to bar Miss Tibet
2006 Tsering Chungtak at the Miss Tourism Pageant unless she agreed
to wear a sash that said Miss Tibet-China.
The Tibetan pulled out, saying she would not wear the sash.
The lack of publicity about the entries till the eve of the film
festival could have lulled China into a false sense of security.
Tibet right groups in India have complained that when they tried to
screen Tibet-related films, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi tried
to pressure them into withdrawing them.
India is home to some 100,000 Tibetans who fled their homeland along
with the Dalai Lama in 1959 following a failed anti-China uprising.
No country recognizes the Tibetan government-in-exile here.
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