I've just completed a series of short docs about rural Tibet that I'm really looking forward to sharing.(Stay tuned here for screening news as it develops.) All of them are very intimate and very rare looks at rural Tibetan rituals and processes, and were shot on location at Kala Rongo, the Buddhist monastery exclusively for women in Nangchen, Tibet where DAUGHTERS OF WISDOM was created. WATER is a 7-minute film in which a woman goes to collect water in a barrel (a 1 hour process in real time). TSAMPA is a 7-minute film in which a young woman prepares the Tibetan food staple while sitting in a traditional yak tent, and RITUAL OBJECTS is a 14-minute triptych offering a rare and intimate look at three traditional Buddhist rituals: In PRAYER WHEEL, a young woman discusses the meaning and mechanics of the iconic Tibetan implement. In PROCESSION, a group of nuns await the arrival of a High Lama in the customary way. And in TORMA, an old monk gently instructs a young nun on how to prepare the components of an intricate Tibetan ceremony.
Thank you to the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, and Digital Arts, for their support in making the films possible. And to the artist residency at Yaddo where I spent a glorious month last summer editing them.
