In the West, Tibet is often thought of as almost an abstraction, a distant place of mystery and mysticism. It’s easy to forget that the Dalai Lama’s homeland is a real country full of real people with real lives. Co-produced by America’s most famous Buddhist, Richard Gere, Dreaming Lhasa brings the Tibetan experience closer to home. Tibetan-American filmmaker Karma journeys from New York to the land of her ancestors hoping to document the struggles of political prisoners. In the course of her interviews, she encounters an activist monk serving a long prison sentence. When he charges her with the delivery of a sacred box to a fellow exile, Karma must strike out in an exotic country that is more familiar than she imagined. As she journeys through nightclubs and city scenes with the lush Himalayan foothills as a backdrop, her faith, politics and personal identity are all called into question.

Indo-Tibetan husband-and-wife directing team Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam first gained international attention with The Reincarnation of Tenzu Rinpoche, a 1992 documentary about a child lama in an Indian Buddhist temple. Martin Scorcese cited that film as a major inspiration for his fictional Kundun. In the late 1980s, they worked as archivists for Meridian Trust, a London-based film archive dedicated to Buddhist and Tibet-related materials. Dreaming Lhasa is their first feature film.

Producers: Richard Gere, Ritu Sarin, Jeremy Thomas Screenwriter: Tenzing Sonam Cinematographer: Ranjan Palit Editor: Paul Dosaj Music: Andy Spence, Techung Cast: Phuntsok Namgyal Dhumkhang, Tenzin Chokyi Gyatso, Jampa Kalsang Tama