2023 Tibetan Film Festival

Welcome to the 2023 Tibetan Film Fest, presented by the Arizona Friends of Tibet!

AFOT proudly shares a collection of four extraordinary films, each a window into the tapestry of Tibetan life. In this captivating journey, we explore not only the rich heritage and traditions of this remarkable community but also the challenges that have shaped their path.

A poignant feature-length film and a thought-provoking short await you at each screening, carefully chosen to illuminate the depth of emotions and stories that define a culture.

Feature-length Film: Tukdam: Between Worlds

This documentary opens with a mortician’s striking observation: “I’ve probably seen several thousand dead bodies. But this was something that I’d never seen before.” In what Tibetan Buddhists call ‘tukdam’, advanced meditators die in a consciously controlled manner. The film juxtaposes scientific and Tibetan perspectives as it tries to unravel the mystery of ‘tukdam’. The film features compelling footage of monks in the tukdam meditative state, as well as interviews with The Dalai Lama, neuroscientists, long-time Buddhist meditators, Western and Tibetan doctors, and even the mortician who later handled one of the bodies. (Dir. by Donagh Coleman, 2022, Nepal, 91 mins., NR)

Short: Some Questions on the Nature of Your Existence

Perhaps you have seen photos or video of what looks like Tibetan Buddhist monks arguing and slapping their hands, but they are in reality engaged in a centuries-old tradition of debate. Welcome to the rarefied world of Tibetan Buddhist debate. Built around three sets of debates dealing with the basic Buddhist concepts of impermanence, lack of self-existence, and dependent-arising, the piece allows the viewer an opportunity to participate in this unique dialectical practice while highlighting its relevance to the modern world. (Dir. by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, 2007, India, 26 mins., NR)

This is a rental of The Loft Cinema, presented by Arizona Friends of Tibet.