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MY STORY

One day, I found myself without a penny in my pocket because I had recently disrobed; my life as a monk was over and I was friendless and penniless.

I saw a notice about the Tibetan Film Festival, in Zurich and Dharamshala, in which there was an opportunity for filmmakers to showcase their work and Tibetan Filmmakers could enter for free. Here was an opportunity to not only follow my passion for films, but also to possibly earn some much needed cash, which would help me pay for my education.

In 2011 during my winter holiday I started to make my first film, “Can Anyone Hear Me”. The subject was self-immolation: courageous acts of self sacrifice committed by Tibetans because of the illegal occupation of my country by communist China, resulting in the persecution of religion, the destruction of our way of life and culture and the killing, imprisonment and torture of thousands of my countrymen.

The world needed to know what was happening. The international press carried very little information about self-immolations; friends were writing articles and poems - few were published and I wanted to educate people about the Tibetan struggle through the medium of film.

It took eight months to make the movie, partly because at that time I was a 4th year student studying Buddhist Philosophy.

I entered my film for the Tibetan Film festival in August 2012 and won 1st place from the audiences’ vote and 2nd place from the international panel of judges. My dream seemed complete; I had received prize money, so my finances were no longer an issue and I had found a new group of friends too. But I had also realized the power of film, the breadth and enormity of its audience and the impact for change in its message.

I want to continue to make films, not only about Tibet but also involving spiritual values. People of the world are suffering and creating their own unhappiness due to negative thought and actions. I feel that if they are exposed to a different and possibly more liberating way of thinking it will benefit them, and ultimately society as a whole.

I would like to end with a quote from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama which encapsulates the reason for me continuing to make films:

“Modern education is premised strongly on materialistic values. Yet, as I often point out, it is vital that when educating our children’s brains we do not neglect to educate their hearts, and a key element of educating their hearts has to be nurturing their compassionate nature.”