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Tibetan Film wins "Prix du Public" in France

By Tenam | Tibet Sun

Director of the documentary film ‘The Sun Behind the Clounds” Tenzing Sonam films rapper Namgyal Yeshi in New York City.File photo/White Crane Films/US

A Tibetan film exploring the dispute between Tibet and China, and portraying differing views with regards to the direction of Tibetan struggle has won an award at a film festival in France.

The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s struggle for Freedom, a documentary film by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam won the ‘Prix du Public’ or public choice award at the prestigious 32nd Films de Femmes ‘Women’s Film Festival’ in Creteil, a city to the south of Paris yesterday.

The film had earlier won the Vaclav Havel award for its contribution to the protection of human rights in March and ‘Audience documentary favourite’ at the prestigious 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, California.

The film chronicles the half-century dispute between Tibet and China but also shows the divisions among the Tibetans regarding the best strategy for the future of Tibet: co-existence with China as propounded by the Dalai Lama through his “Middle Way” approach or independence.

In 2008, Dreaming Lhasa, the duo’s first feature film dealing with life of the Tibetans in exile, was screened at the opening night and competed under the category of ‘films long duration’. Sarin and Sonam have been making films about Tibet for 20 years.

Started in 1979, the International Women’s Film festival of Creteil invites women filmmakers from around the world to “highlight women’s perspective on their societies”.

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Published in Tibet Sun