Texas Premiere
Rituals of Resistance
Tibet I 63 mins I Drama I 2019 I Tibetan & English w/ English subtitles
Rituals of Resistance reflects on the evolving responses of Tibetans to 65 years of Chinese occupation. Through first-hand accounts from Tibetan exiles in disparate parts of the world, the film traces the varied paths resistance can take, from the active and brutal, to the symbolic and sacrificial.
After the Chinese invasion in 1950, a devout monk turns to violence and becomes a guerrilla leader, launching raids from his base in Nepal. An immigrant mother in California, who follows the Dalai Lama’s Middle Path of nonviolence, defies border restrictions to reunite with her family after 30 years of separation. A student-activist in India, who grew up under Chinese-controlled Tibet, turns to suicide protest.
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Each grapples with his or her Buddhist beliefs in the face of national and political imperatives. Interspersed between each portrait, the Tibetan American director reflects on each mode of resistance as he wanders the American frontier that resembles his lost homeland.
VIRTUAL SCREENING + Q&A :
SUN. APRIL 18 - 12PM (NOON) CT
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About the Artist
Tenzin Phuntsog is filmmaker living and working in Montana. He is the founder of the Tibet Film Archive and currently, Assistant Professor of Film at Montana State University. He received his MFA in Visual Arts at Columbia University in 2006.
Before finishing his first feature documentary, he dedicated over ten years to the preservation of rare archival films of Tibet’s bygone era and early exile years.
Joy Dietrich is a self-taught filmmaker who was born in Korea, grew up in America's heartland, and matured under the European social democratic system. A former staff editor at The New York Times, her films explore themes of adoption, identity, and cultural displacement.
RITUALS OF RESISTANCE, a collaboration with filmmaker Tenzin Phuntsog, is her first documentary feature.
Director's Statement
Rituals of Resistance is a handmade film, shot, produced, and edited by the directing duo, Joy Dietrich and Tenzin Phuntsog. The project started out as a film restoration project of a forgotten 1966 film, Raid into Tibet, which led us to embark on a much more ambitious and personal film about three paths of resistance Tibetans have taken over the past three generations since the 1950 Chinese occupation.
The recent rise of self-immolations within the Tibetan community (now numbering 150 deaths) is challenging to discuss and show on film, but we felt compelled to bring awareness to this growing social phenomenon. Rituals of Resistance is ultimately an attempt to understand it from a personal perspective for Tenzin Phuntsog, a Tibetan exile based in the United States and founder of the Tibet Film Archive.
Trailer
About the Artist
Tenzin Phuntsog is filmmaker living and working in Montana. He is the founder of the Tibet Film Archive and currently, Assistant Professor of Film at Montana State University. He received his MFA in Visual Arts at Columbia University in 2006.
Before finishing his first feature documentary, he dedicated over ten years to the preservation of rare archival films of Tibet’s bygone era and early exile years.
Joy Dietrich is a self-taught filmmaker who was born in Korea, grew up in America's heartland, and matured under the European social democratic system. A former staff editor at The New York Times, her films explore themes of adoption, identity, and cultural displacement.
RITUALS OF RESISTANCE, a collaboration with filmmaker Tenzin Phuntsog, is her first documentary feature.
Director's Statement
Rituals of Resistance is a handmade film, shot, produced, and edited by the directing duo, Joy Dietrich and Tenzin Phuntsog. The project started out as a film restoration project of a forgotten 1966 film, Raid into Tibet, which led us to embark on a much more ambitious and personal film about three paths of resistance Tibetans have taken over the past three generations since the 1950 Chinese occupation.
The recent rise of self-immolations within the Tibetan community (now numbering 150 deaths) is challenging to discuss and show on film, but we felt compelled to bring awareness to this growing social phenomenon. Rituals of Resistance is ultimately an attempt to understand it from a personal perspective for Tenzin Phuntsog, a Tibetan exile based in the United States and founder of the Tibet Film Archive.
Trailer
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Thank you to our community partner(s) for this screening: The Austin Asian American Film Festival, the Austin Film Society, and the Austin Film Commission!
Credits
Director(s): TENZIN PHUNTSOG
JOY DIETRICH
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Exec. Producer: ERIC NYARI
Cinematographer: TENZIN PHUNTSOG
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Editor(s): JOY DIETRICH
TENZIN PHUNTSOG
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Composer: ALEX ZHANG HUNGTAI
Documentary Cast
TENDAR
TSEYKI DOLMA
LHAKPA TSERING
TENZIN PHUNTSOG
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Special Effects: STUART LEVY
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Visual Effects: FUMIRO SATO
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Editorial Department: FERNANDA GURGEL
FUMIRO SATO
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