The 2007 Twin Cities Tibetan Film Festival will take place May 11-13 at the Riverview Theatre in Minneapolis, showcasing some of the most acclaimed movies focusing on Tibet’s rich spiritual and cultural heritage, as well as its troubled political history. Proceeds will benefit the Tibetan American Foundation of MN, Society for Gyuto Sacred Arts, and the Rime Foundation, which are committed to preserving Tibet’s rich heritage and providing access to its spiritual and cultural resources.
Tickets for the 7 p.m. shows are $12; all other tickets are $10. Riverview Theatre is at the corner of East 38th Street and 42nd Avenue South.
Tibetan Film Festival Schedule
Friday, May 11
5 p.m. – Words of My Perfect Teacher (2003, 103 min.) featuring Bernardo Bertolucci; music by Sting and Steve Tibbetts, named Best Feature Documentary at the Houston International Film Festival; the film is for those who wish they’d met Yoda or Merlin, and long for the opportunity to engage with a teacher who defies convention.
7 p.m. – 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama (2006, 85 min.) named Grand Festival Award Winner at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival; part biography, part philosophy, part adventure and part politics, this film conveys more than history and more than answers – it opens a window into the heart of a great man.
9 p.m. – Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy (1984, 134 min.) called "a very special masterpiece…one of the most singular films in years" by Village Voice; the Dalai Lama’s first visit to the United States in 1979 is documented; now digitally restored and recut.
Saturday, May 12
5 p.m. – Destroyer of Illusion (1986, 57 min.) narrated by Richard Gere; a richly detailed and beautifully filmed portrait of a secret Tibetan Buddhist ritual, the Mani Rimdu festival, and the remarkable spiritual teacher Trulshik Rinpoche, one of the Dalai Lama’s own spiritual teachers who is considered a living Buddha by Tibetans.
7 p.m. – Vajra Sky Over Tibet (2006, 89 min.) one of the rare documentaries to be filmed entirely inside Tibet; this feature-length documentary offers a direct experience of some of the most revered temples, monasteries and festivals still surviving in Tibet today.
9 p.m. – Daughters of Everest (2004, 56 min.) documentary of the first-ever expedition of Sherpa women to climb Mt. Everest + Chasing Buddha (1999, 52 min.) profile of the life of Tibetan Buddhist nun Robina Courtin, an ex-Catholic and former activist who works with prisoners in the United States, including several death row inmates in the Kentucky State Penitentiary.
Sunday, May 13
5 p.m. – The Lion’s Roar (50 min.) masterful portrait of the late 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, the great Tibetan Buddhist master known as the Black Hat Lama, following him to the Hopi nation and to Woodstock, N.Y.
7 p.m. – Milarepa: Magician, Murderer, Saint (2006, 96 min.) documents one of Tibet’s most beloved saints and prolific poets who started his life as a feared black magician and murderer, yet whose intense remorse drove him to the isolated mountains of Tibet, where he devoted his life to meditation and solitary retreat.
9 p.m. – 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama (2006, 85 min.) named Grand Festival Award Winner at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival; part biography, part philosophy, part adventure and part politics, this film conveys more than history and more than answers – it opens a window into the heart of a great man.
