Tenzin Gyatso

In his new film, Erwin Wagenhofer is looking for the good and beautiful in this world.

The main characters of the film are two small boys who share the throne of Karmapa, the highest office of one of Tibetan Buddhism's main sects and the third in line after the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. As with the Dalai Lama, Karmapa is the same soul which reincarnates in each successor to the office, who is identified by omens, portents and other signs. The Karmapa line actually pre-dates the Dalai Lama's, and their respective importance has alternated in the course of history with either the Karmapa or Dalai Lama holding precedence. Only one of the current Karmapas lives in Tibet, who is recognized by the Dalai Lama but controlled by the Chinese government for political ends. The second Karmapa lives in New Delhi, India and was selected by a Tibetan group in exile. The film was shot in India, Nepal and Tibet and features the Dalai Lama as narrator, providing an incisive spiritual and political view of occupied Tibet.

Owned & Operated is a mosaic of the world through the lens of the internet. Showing our lives as consumers, under the thumbs of privileged individuals and their methods of control. But the world is awakening, and the experience is something outside the normal rules of social interaction, causing excitement in those who are not served by the current system... and fear in those who are pampered by it. This documentary attempts to present these events using the video, audio and written content uploaded to the internet by the collective human consciousness comprised of every individual participant.

Irish director Donagh Coleman explores the extraordinary phenomenon of Tukdam, whereby some Tibetan Buddhist practitioners are able to forestall physical decay at the point of clinical death for days, even weeks, by entering a deep meditative state. Supported by His Holiness the Dalai Lama a group of leading scientists conduct groundbreaking research into the phenomenon, which challenges Western medical understanding of the line between life and death.

Bön: Mustang to Menri tells the story of Asonam, a 10 yr. old boy, who made a journey from his homeland, the ancient kingdom of Mustang (now part of Nepal) to Menri Monastery in Northern India. There Asonam made the commitment to become a Geshe, equivalent to a PhD, and after 13 additional years of education in languages, philosophy, debate, and Bön traditions he achieved this goal.

In 1959 thousands of unarmed Tibetan women took to the streets of Lhasa to oppose the violent Chinese occupation of their country. For the first time on film, three generations of Tibetan women and His Holiness the Dalai Lama recount one of the great movements of nonviolent resistance in modern history.

Lost in time, the Himalayan Kingdom of Mustang is one of the last sanctuaries of authentic Tibetan Buddhist culture. But, long isolated by geography and politics, the people struggle to survive and the center of their culture, the fifteenth century monasteries and the art within are dangerously close to collapse. Mustang - Journey of Transformation, tells the compelling story of the efforts to rescue this ancient place from the brink of extinction and help spark a cultural renaissance. Storytellers include His Holiness the Dalai Lama; the King of Mustang; and Luigi Fieni, the chief art restorer.

Through vintage amateur movies as well as archival Communist propaganda documentaries, this program turns back the clock to see what Tibet was like from the 1930s to 1950. After the popular and successful TV and DVD collaborations The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon and The Lost World of Friese-Greene, the BFI and BBC co-produced The Lost World of Tibet, broadcast on BBC Four on 3 March 2008.