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Windhorse


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Date:1997
Director: Paul Wagner
Screenwriter: Julia Elliot, Thupten Tsering, Paul Wagner
Featured Country: Tibet
Running Time: 97
Format: Color
Original Language: Tibetan, Mandarin
Event: Chinese History


Eighteen years ago, Chinese troops interrupt three Tibetan children at play, murdering their grandfather for displaying an anti-China poster. Back in the present day, the children have grown up, each reacting to the repression of Tibet in their own way. Dolkar (Dadon) has become a young pop singer with a promising career and a Chinese radio producer for a boyfriend. Her brother Dorjee (Jampa Keisang), on the other hand, has descended into sulking and drinking, unable to commit his life to a course of action. Finally, their cousin Pema (unnamed) has joined a Buddhist nunnery.

A raid on her monastery, and the subsequent arrest of one of the sisters for possession of a portrait of the Dalai Lama, causes Pema to vocally protest the Chinese oppression. She is beaten brutally and released to the family, who still lives together in Lhasa. Because of this, Dorjee is moved into action, and he enlists the help of an American tourist to videotape Pema's story, afterward attempting to smuggle it out of Tibet. Click here to purchase Windhorse