THE WOMEN OF TIBET FILM PROJECT

We are thrilled to announce 38th Annual Northern California Area Emmy® Awards 2008-2009 EMMY® WINNER Historic/Cultural - Program/Special WOMEN OF TIBET: A QUIET REVOLUTION Presented for outstanding achievement in television by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Emmy statuettes were presented to winners on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at the Emmy Black Tie Gala at the Palace Hotel — San Francisco CA

The Women of Tibet film project consists of three one-hour documentary films revealing potent historical moments of past and contemporary Tibet. The films touch on themes of women’s endurance and their struggle for freedom, social justice, and human rights. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Himalayas, the trilogy displays the strength and perseverance of a people dedicated to the principles of peace, non-violence, and compassion.

Women of Tibet: Gyalyum Chemo - The Great Mother and Women of Tibet: A Quiet Revolution are broadcast on national PBS television, and after garnering seven 2008 Silver and Bronze TELLY awards and the Insight Award for Excellence are now available on DVD.

Women of Tibet: A Quiet Revolution is a 2009 EMMY^® winner.

Filmmaker Rosemary Rawcliffe is a founding member of The Dalai Lama Foundation and we are happy to be counted among the supporters of this important work.

The Films

Gyalyum Chemo, The Great Mother, explores the life of Dekyi Tsering, the mother of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the Great Mother Archetype. The film interweaves the story of two Mothers — a Universal Great Mother that lives within each of us and Dekyi Tsering, an ordinary village woman who became known as Gyalyum Chemo, the Great Mother of the Tibetan nation. Dekyi Tsering’s story is uniquely Tibetan, yet it shares the same core qualities of all universal Great Mother stories: loss and resurrection, love and sacrifice, and the courage to survive.

A Quiet Revolution chronicles the story of one of the great movements of nonviolent resistance in modern history. In March 1959, an estimated 15,000 unarmed Tibetan women took to the streets of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, to oppose the violent occupation of their country by the Communist Chinese.  The surviving exiled elders are the last generation of women left to tell the story and to transmit the cultural legacy they carry.  These women, having survived decades in prison and perilous escapes across the Himalayas, along with their daughters and granddaughters, today, have become the architects and builders of a new Tibet in exile.

Women of Tibet: The Sacred Marriage (formerly called Women, Wisdom & Spirit) is currently in production and actively seeking completion funding.

The Sacred Marriage explores the radical changes women and men experience on the quest to become fully realized human beings.  Forced by the demands of modern living we delve into what it means to follow a spiritual path while reexamining traditional roles.  This film seeks to shed light on what happens when two primal forces begin to work together to create a more harmonious and peaceful world for all in the face of 21st century challenges.

“Peace starts within each one of us.  When we have inner peace we can be at peace with those around us.” —His Holiness the Dalai Lama

To learn more about the films, and about His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people’s tireless pursuit of cultural survival and self-determination, visit the Women of Tibet website.

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