|
December 2005 Screening of and Reception for Song of Tibet On Monday, December 5, the China International Culture Education Center (CICEC) and the American Film Institute (AFI) co-sponsored a screening of The Song of Tibet. Before the screening, AFI hosted a reception including members from CICEC and AFI, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, board members and friends of the U.S.-China Policy Foundation, and honored guests from the Chinese-Tibetan community. Mr. Lhapa Phuntsok, head of the CICEC delegation and also the head of the China-Tibetology Research Center and former governor of Tibetan Autonomous Region from 1990-2001, gave a few remarks on the film and his hope for spreading Tibetan films and culture around the world. Also in attendance in the CICEC delegation were Lu Hong-sheng, secretary general of CICEC, and Denzin Drolkar, one of the lead actresses in Song of Tibet. Song of Tibet was taken from a novel based on actual love poems of the sixth Dalai Lama. It received the audience prize at the 2001 Palm Springs Film Festival. The film provides a rarely seen perspective on one of the most tumultuous chapters of China's recent past. The film follows Dawa, a young Beijing woman, on a visit to her grandparents in Lhasa. Her journey coincides with the Dalai Lama's forced flight from Tibet and the rumblings of the Cultural Revolution, making Song of Tibet a uniquely relevant and sympathetic vision of history as well as an absorbing tale of love across the ages. It is a beautifully filmed love story with an entirely Tibetan cast, speaking in Tibetan and Mandarin-Chinese with English subtitles. The film was directed by Xie Fei. The CICEC delegation was invited to the United States by the U.S.-China Policy Foundation. The delegation screened the Song of Tibet at AFI on two occasions on December 4 and 5. Following the screenings, the Foundation arranged for the delegation to visit the U.S. capitol and other sites, as well as their trip to New York City. |