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2009
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ASIAN AMERICAN INTERNATONAL FILM FESTIVAL
2009
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CALGARY
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SPECIAL JURY MENTION
WATCH DOCS INTERNATONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FESTIVAL 2009
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INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD
CINEMA FOR PEACE
2010
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SAN LUIS OBISPO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
2010
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2010
SYNOPSIS
Tibet in Song is both a celebration of traditional Tibetan folk music and a harrowing journey into the past fifty years of cultural repression inside Chinese controlled Tibet. Director and former Tibetan political prisoner, Ngawang Choephel, weaves a story of beauty, pain, brutality and resilience, introducing Tibet to the world in a way never before seen on film.
The beauty of traditional Tibetan folk music is showcased through a variety of working songs, songs about family and the beauty of the land. These rarely seen performances are deftly juxtaposed against startling footage of the early days of the Chinese invasion and a concise explanation of the factors leading to the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in 1959. Ngawang Choephel sets the stage for a unique exploration of the Chinese impact on Tibetans inside Tibet.
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What follows is a heartbreaking tale of cultural exploitation and resistance, which includes Ngawangs' own eventual imprisonment for recording the very songs atthe center of the film. Tibet in Song provides raw and uncensored look at Tibet as it stands today, a country plagued by Chinese brutality, yet willing to fight for the existence of its unique cultural heritage.
Tibet in Song is directed by Ngawang Choephel, and contains both original music composed by Ngawang himself, and an array of traditional folk songs sung by native Tibetans.
SYNOPSIS
THE FILMMAKER
Ngawang Choephel is the director, writer, and producer of Tibet in Song, his feature debut. He is a graduate of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, India and a musician who released his first album of Tibetan folk songs entitled "Melody in Exile," in 1993.
After starting his career as a music teacher in India, he traveled to the US as a Fulbright scholar at Middlebury College, VT where he studied international music as well as filmmaking. He went to Tibet in 1995 to record and videotape Tibetan folk songs in order to make this film.
Chinese authorities arrested Ngawang in 1995, falsely charging him with espionage. He was sent to prison without a trial, where he served 7 years of an 18-year sentence. A highly publicized international campaign that began with his mother's solitary protests, and later involved musicians like Annie Lennox, the Tibetan Freedom Concert and US Senators James Jeffords and Patrick Leahy from Vermont, finally secured his release in 2002.
Ngawang is recipient of Middlebury College's Honorary Doctor of Arts degree, Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award, and Lobsang Wangyal's Best Act in Exile award. He is also a Sundance Institute Fellow.
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Click here to read a letter from Ngawang.
FILM CREDITS
Written, directed and produced by
NGAWANG CHOEPHEL
Co-writer
TARA STEELE
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Editor
TIM BARTLETT
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Executive producer
ANNE CORCOS
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Co-producers
YODON THONDEN
TARA STEELE
DON THOMPSON
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Consulting editor
KATE AMEND
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Cinematographers
HUGH WALSH
NGAWANG CHOEPHEL
TIM BARTLETT
CARRIE LEDERER
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Additional editors
COURTNEY HARMEL
CHRIS BURAN
LAURA CORWIN
ANNE ALVERGUE
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Supervising sound editor
JOE MILNER
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Sound re-recording mixer
JOE MILNER
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Tibet location manager
NYIMA
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India location managers
LHAMO DOLMA
TENZIN TASHI
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Additional camera
SARAH WALLER
DAVID HUANG
Animation
RAEDIA SIKKEMA ALBINSON
IAN ALBINSON
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Post consultants
RAMY KATRIB
ZED SAEED
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Supervising online editor
EDVIN MEHRABYAN
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Online editors
JACOB TILLMAN
LAKAN DELEON
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Colorist
PATRICK WOODARD
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Visual effects
DYLAN CHUDZYNSKI
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Camera assistants
SONAM TSERING
TSETAN LHUNDUP
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Assistant editor
JOAQUIN PEREZ
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Post digital services
DIGITAL FILM TREE
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Post-production sound services
PUGET SOUND, INC.
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Foley recorded at
POST CREATIONS
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Foley supervisor
NICK NEUTRA
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Foley mixers
KYLE BILLINGSLEY
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Foley artist
CYNTHIA MERRILL
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Tibetan title script
PEMA BHUM
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Chinese song translation
KIAT-SING TEO
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Production interns
EMMA MULLEN
IRENE MARSH-ELMER
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Additional Tibet footage
JEFF LODAS
MATTEO PISTONO
RICHARD MARTINI
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Campaign footage
RUTHIE RISTICH
DAN GRIFFIN
TENZIN DONGTOKa
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Archival Footage Courtesy of
Bureau du Tibet, Paris
WGBH, Boston
Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) Dharamsala, India
Buy Out Footage
Pond5
Library of Congress
The Associated Press
CTV
Off the Fence
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
Archival Photography Courtesy of
Sonam Dekyi
Kathryn Culley
Wendy Cook
David Huang
Very Special Thanks to
all those who worked tirelessly during my imprisonment
Special Thanks to
Richard Lanier
Anne Teal
Diane Weyermann
Natalia Romana
Kamala Buckner
Richard Gere
Cara Mertes
Annie Lennox
Steven Rockefeller
Marybeth Markey
Phyllis and Michael Wells
Minnie Cancellaro
Shannon Kelley
Latse Library
Cultural Survival
Our creative advisors
Susanne Rostock
Lewis Irskin
Kristin Feeley
Jonathan Oppenheim
Mary Lampson
Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
Robb Moss
Tia Lessin
Johanna Demetrakas
Virginie Alvine Perrette
Jean-Philippe Boucicaut