The Buddhas Everywhere.

Seykhar Films

Apple seed one sow shall always yield apples, not mangoes. Juno, NASA sent to the Jupiter in 2011 is now orbiting around the planet with near precision Scientists had predicted. Aren’t things seem perfectly in order in this universe? However, we all know that everything is in chaos when it comes to the sub-atomic world. About 99% of the atom, the building block of every matter is made up of space and not a tightly packed solid unit it should be. We also know that this is on par with what the Buddha had proposed many centuries ago. Matters we see and experience in our daily lives are in fact nonexistent when we explore deep down as they just exist in relationship to their surroundings and not by itself. By the same logic, our consciousness, mind, or soul also exist in relationship to our bodies and not by itself. Hence our outlook towards ourselves being an independent and distinct entity itself is at fault and, when we cling ourselves to this wronged notion and act accordingly, the result is always an endless suffering.

But I am not going to regurgitate the already known relationship between Buddhism and Science in this respect. Today, I will be exploring a little bit about the possibility of our mind or consciousness to reincarnate into more than two persons in our next life that many of the Buddhists believe in and its relationship to the quantum world. Countries such as Tibet and Bhutan has some of the most interesting stories to share about passing away of some High Lamas and then their coming back to this world as two or three reincarnates beings. For instance, 5th Jamyang Shepa Tenpey Gyaltsen, a highly realized lama in Amdo, Eastern Tibet is believed to have been reincarnated into two persons- the 6th Jamyang Shepa J. T Chokyi Nyima and a blue-eyed Caucasian gentleman in the West. Interestingly, some senior Lamas of the monastery even believe former US President Bill Clinton as the other reincarnate. We also know that the Buddha himself has numerous manifestations. While he is Avalokitesvara, the God of compassion, the Buddha is also Manjushri, the God of wisdom and the list continues. Buddhism believes that an enlightened being has the ability and power to reincarnate into several thousand beings and these multiple avatars could also reside on an unimaginably tiny particle simultaneously.

So, how does this phenomenon relate to the quantum world? Well, we are all aware of the famous double slit experiment that let to the discovery of dual nature of electron; particle, when it passes through single and wave when it passes through the double slit. Can electrons be traced at a particular location at a given time? The answer is obviously ‘No’ as the waves have tendencies to manifest itself at several different locations concurrently which is perfectly on par with the reincarnation of more than one being when an enlightened lama or a yogi dies. Also in the multiverse concept of ‘Many world theory,’ it is believed that many parallel worlds exist simultaneously. In layman’s terms, the hypothesis states there is an enormous, perhaps an infinite number of universes, and everything that could have happened in our past, but did not, has occurred in the past of some other universe or universes. Or in another word, there already is an infinite number of you and me in many different worlds, living their lives as we do here on this planet.

All these scientific theories and hypothesis very strongly suggest that the possibility of reincarnating more than one person is in fact far greater than that of reincarnating just one. We are here, but at the same time, we are not here. Then where are we? We are everywhere, pretty much like the celluloid characters of the Hollywood blockbuster, The Matrix where they manifest in multiple numbers and interact among one another seamlessly.

Contributed by

Tashi Wangchuk

Co-Director & Co-Producer

Seykhar Films

WELCOMING THE POT- BELLIED TIBETAN SPIDER MAN (Edited)

MAKING THE NEXT OPEN WATER (Edited)

Published on Meyul.com

May 15th, 2015

There was a time when every aspiring actor and filmmaker used to go to Los Angeles to pursue his dream. It was here Arnold Scawizinegger from Austria, Orson Welles from Wisconsin, James Cameroon from Ontario, and other biggies from all over the world made their mark on the Hollywood walk of fame.

However, times are changing nowadays, even faster than a blink of our eyes. It doesn’t matter whether you live in the mountainous Shar Khumbu in Nepal or the cosmopolitan Hollywood district of Los Angeles as long as you are aware of what goes into the art of filmmaking. Yes, every Tashi and Bakdo can be a filmmaker these days. All you need is to write an interesting story, be able to push some of your friends in front of the palm-sized HD camera, edit the footages on your living room desktop, and then add some music to enhance the story. After all, Chris Kentis (Open Water), David Lynch (Inland Empire), Hubert Taczanowski (Tadpole) and Pema Tsetan (Old Dog) had proven it already with their digital productions. Particularly ‘Open Water’ shot with the SONY prosumer camcorder at the shoestring budget of US $ 130,000 end up generating more than 54 million Dollars at the box office.

With the advent of digital cinematography and user-friendly, non-linear editing software, the whole aspect of filmmaking is revolutionizing nowadays. Your image quality could be far better than what the heavyweight professionals used to generate in the past. Now, we already have 4K whose image quality rivals even that of the 35mm, and these are pretty much available on Best Buy shelves. The opportunities are immense, and it has never been a better time to make a movie than now. I still remember the day when I screened our second feature film- Richard Gere is My Hero on the big screen at the University at Buffalo, New York in 2007 where my Professors and students were impressed by the resolution generated by the Standard Def. DVX 100. Yes, we shot the whole film on MiniDV, as HD was a luxury by then. However, let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that the imagery and the resolutions are not the lone factors that determine the success or failure of a film. It is the story that drives audiences to the theater and not the technicals. Otherwise, I will be already living in a lovely mansion in the Berkeley hills overlooking the golden gate in the distant horizon, right?

Being an exiled Tibetan, the films also serve as a valuable tool to highlight our issue around the world. For instance, filmmaker Tenzin Sonam and Ritu Sarin’s ‘The Sun Behind the Clouds‘ received tremendous attention to our cause when they screened their work at the 2010 Palm Spring and numerous film festivals, and this is just one example.

Another great news is that all the major film festivals including the mighty Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, Busan, Tribeca, and Cannes who earlier accept only celluloid works now consider as well as screen films on digital realms. On the downside, competitions are always fierce when there is already a large pool of filmmakers trying their luck in the game. You have to have a rock solid film if you want a major distributor for your film. Therefore, my earlier suggestion of pushing your excited friends in front of the camera may not be a very good idea, but everyone has to begin somewhere, right?

Now, how are you going to promote your film? Again, your living room desktop and the already excited friends have an important role to play. Design a simple and informative website that tells many interesting things about your movie. Make an impressive trailer and ask your friends to share it on various social media, but not to the point that people start hating your movie even before it is released. Send your film to various film festivals and get it reviewed by someone who writes well. Believe it or not, buzz carries more weight than the contents. If your movies carry no buzz, your film will most likely end up on your computer’s hard drive for the rest of your life. I had learned this lesson from our film- RGMH when the Netflix panel watched it and shown interest to distribute on their site but turned down only because of lack of buzz.

Once you’ve generated enough buzz about your movie, it is now the time to distribute your film. But neither you have any idea, nor an agent to represent your work in the shark market and for that matter, you didn’t have any distributor, right? No problem. You could distribute your film by yourselves without engaging these intermediaries by relying on the Amazon, Netflix, Vimeo, YouTube and cable-based VOD (Video on Demand) nowadays. In fact, all the major studios are making money from these micro outlets and not from the traditional theaters where distributors and exhibitors (theater owner) take the largest pie of the revenue.

Another most important factor in monetizing your work is none other than lowering your cost of production. Yes, keep your budget to a minimum. The money you spend doesn’t necessarily reflect on the screen. Having said that, but don’t even think of starving your poor cast and crew, as they are the backbone of your project.

This pretty much sums up how to make a movie and succeed in the digital era. I wish you good luck in becoming another Chris Kentis by making your version of ‘Open Water‘ right from your living room.

Contributed by

Tashi Wagchuk

Co-Director & Co-Producer

Seykhar Films

A MAN UNDER THE BED (Edited)

TIBETAN WARRIOR: A Film Review (Edited)

Published on tibetsun.com

June 28th, 2016

After seeing the impressive trailer of Dodo Hunziker’s Tibetan Warrior, I certainly had to watch the film. Also, Loten Namling, my favourite, a well-known Tibetan singer is, featured in it. Although it took a while to make the movie available to the world audience, I am glad that I could finally lay my hands on Netflix and enjoyed it thoroughly.

The hour-and-twenty-four-minute-long film tells the real event based story of a Switzerland Tibetan musician and singer, his frustrations, aspirations, and struggle while the whole world continues to overlook what is happening inside Tibet and choose to shake hands with China. Tibetans behind the Himalayas are being oppressed to the point that many of them now resort to self-immolation, an unimaginable form of protest that the world has never seen at this magnitude before.

The film primarily rides on Loten Namling’s journey on foot with a coffin from Bern to Geneva, which is about 350 kilometres apart. To Loten, the coffin symbolises the slow death of his country, and his purpose of the arduous journey is to educate people about Tibet. The film also highlights many aspects of Loten’s personal life, including two beautiful kids and their mother. Loten’s strong commitment to do something meaningful for his dying country is evident from the fact that both of his children having born and raised in a non-Tibetan community, converse quite comfortably in Tibetan.

The film carries some scenes that will surely melt one’s heart. Perhaps the best among all is that of Loten receiving the remains of his late mother from his step-sister. He crushes the bones and offers the pieces into a small stream in upper Dharamshala in the hope that the deceased may one day be reborn as a Tibetan and serve the unfulfilled wishes of HH the Dalai Lama.

Loten’s meeting with HH the Dalai Lama, is also equally powerful and significant. When he asked His Holiness for guidance and advice about what one should do to highlight the deteriorating situation inside Tibet, the Dalai Lama’s advice to “be realistic, and more importantly, do not hate Chinese” is perhaps the least expected advice a freedom fighter could ever receive. But His Holiness’s words of wisdom make sense as violence and hatred may put a full stop to the Tibetan movement and activism that has been building up for the last many decades. Moreover, China is looking out for every opportunity to label exile Tibetans as terrorists.

Loten’s confrontation with Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann, who favours economic engagement with China, is as depressing as it is funny. Needless to say, the minister’s lame protestations of how he cares dearly about Tibetan people and their human rights does not make much sense to Loten. If there is any comedic character in the film as such, Johann perfectly fits the slot.

Meeting the famed Franz Treichler of Young Gods is also a much-needed morale booster for the tired and weary Loten on his long journey.

Loten’s meetings with then Tibetan Exile Parliament speaker Penpa Tsering, poet and activist Lukar Jam, Tibetan Youth Congress President Tenzin Jigme, and Miss Tibet organiser Lobsang Wangyal highlight the frustration that has been building up throughout his life as an asylee. In fact, everyone is frustrated when there is no tangible solution to Tibet’s issue for the last more than five decades now. Moreover, Tibetans who are living on foreign soils are polarised with two dominant ideologies to resolve their issue: independence v/s autonomy for Tibet.

One can easily tell that filmmaker Dodo didn’t stage any of the scenes as nowadays many filmmakers stage and manipulate scenes and shots to cement their narrative and for that matter, I applaud him for his genuine and unbiased treatment of the subject at hand. Dodo’s smooth cinematography and well-paced editing, complemented by Franz Treichler’s soul-stirring music, keep viewers engaged throughout.

An interesting watch, highly commended! More about the film is at TibetanWarrior.com.

Contributed by

Tashi Wangchuk

Co-Director & Co-Producer

Seykhar Films

With all the rave reviews and buzz around Richard Gere’s new film ‘Arbitrage’, I couldn’t resist seeing this semi-fictional story about the notorious Bernard Madoff who embezzled over $65 billion in the largest financial fraud ever recorded in the US history. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers commended the film as a “first rate; a powerful feature debut boasting an Oscar-caliber Richard Gere firing on all cylinders.”  So I hurried towards a nearby theater with bar, bought my ticket, grabbed the largest beer and excitedly went to see the movie. ‘This is going to be one of the coolest moments of my life,’ I thought as I sat two rows from the screen, holding my beer bottle. However, after I sipped some beer and sunk into my seat, the film rolled. Then I woke up to the audience applauding and leaving. It felt stupid to have slept throughout and missed the whole film. It was my lack of sleep the night before as well as the beer that put me to sleep.

However, I was determined to watch it again for Gere, who stars in movies only once in a while. So the very next day, I went to the theater, bought my ticket and watched it. Arbitrage is the first feature assignment of Nicholas Jarecki, a documentary filmmaker who graduated from the New York University film school at the age of 19. According to the movie’s official website, Nicholas is best described as an innovative, provocative filmmaker whose work focuses on larger than life characters and morally ambiguous themes of industry, power, and corruption. Jarecki financed the film himself that also stars Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, and Brit Marling.

In Arbitrage, Richard Gere plays a hedge-fund magnate Robert Miller who was desperately trying to sell his trading empire to a major bank before the depths of his fraud are revealed. The film is about the race between morality and money. Although money wins, it is the morality that triumphs ultimately.

The film opens with Gere being interviewed by a TV news reporter. He then travels on a luxurious private jet, meets his extended family members who anxiously await his arrival for a birthday surprise. Very soon we get to see the dark side of Miller who is already reeling under his financial malpractices and an affair with his mistress. He is further sucked into the vortex of complexity when his car meets an accident that would kill his lover while on a secret trip. It is now Michael Bryer (played by Tim Roth), the hawk-eyed detective’s turn to expose Miller and his crime.

Gere’s performance as Miller is stunning and real. His classy and finely ironed black suit and white shirt coupled with his silvery hair, adds the aura to his stunning looks.

In Gere’s career so far as an actor, I found Miller by far the best – even better than Edward Lewis of ‘Pretty Woman’ and Zack of ‘The Officer and Gentleman.’ I’m sure Mr. New Yorker will be among the strongest contenders for the Oscars this year.

Tim Roth, Susan Saradon and Brit Marling are equally praiseworthy of their work. However, it is Nate Parker who stole my sympathy with his outstanding performance as Jimmy Grant. The film could have been much better if someone younger and more seductive than Laetitia Casta could have played Miller’s mistress. But this is the only downside that I could think of with this film.

The pace of the story is tight, engaging, and above all intricately written. Being someone who believes that a good film is only possible if the story is engaging, I am giving full credit to the writer, Jarecki himself. The ubiquitous background score that runs throughout the film pushes the story and characters to a new level. Yorick Le Saux’s cinematography is fresh, vibrant in color and utterly beautiful. Hats off to the entire cast and crew for making such a marvelous film! Tashi Delek!

TSERING CHUNGTAK: A Memoir (Edited)

Published on Dancingyaks.com

July 27th 2016

I first met Tsering Chungtak, one of the six contenders for the 2006 Miss Tibet Beauty Pageant, when we were videotaping for our documentary,’Miss Tibet in Exile’ in Dharamshala. She was a bright university student who was only in her early twenties, and for that matter, her knowledge of Tibetan world and exile politics was pretty much in its formative days although I am by no means any expert in the field as such. But I was amazed by her enthusiasm and speed in learning about these within a short span of time. Miss Tibet participants had about ten hectic days to groom and practice for the finale. During this period, they were given talks, presentations, discussions, calligraphy, yoga, Gangkyi tour, dance sessions, catwalk, and much more.

Tsering was also one of the friendliest participants among her group, although all of them were friendly. She would never hesitate to throw the silliest of silly questions to anyone nearby. As I was following the participants with a video camera nearly all the time, obviously I had to become the one catering to her never-ending questions about the exile government based in Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamshala. Fortunately, I had lived in the area for a while and hence  I had not much difficulty in answering her queries. Given that she was a smart and savvy girl, at the back of my mind, I was quite sure that she would be the one to win the year’s title.

While spending some time with Tsering, I found her not only educated but also a kind and a responsible woman. For instance, many people think that Lobsang Wangyal, the director of Miss Tibet Beauty Pageant, makes a lot of money with his annual event. On the contrary, Lobsang always runs into debt by the time the event is completed. He hosts Miss Tibet with a limited money and resources. All he had was two thousand US Dollars, contributed by his mother and brother who live in the US. But the good news is that he always manages to pull an amazing team to help him out, and over the years Miss Tibet event has become the most sought-after annual event in the spiritual town. The Year 2006 finale event had just finished, and the time had now come to hand over the cash prizes to the winners, and Lobsang had no extra money left in his pocket. On top of that, he still had a stack of bills to settle at his table, and Lobsang’s last hope was the final day’s ticket sale collection. Somehow Tsering Chungtak knew about Lobsang’s financial crises and to everyone’s surprise, she decided to donate half of her prize of one lakh rupees back to the director. All of the team members thanked and applauded her for her generosity.

At Tibetan Olympics Torch Rally in Taiwan, 2008. I also had the honor to be her English translator for the question and answer round at the finale event. Although her English was near perfect, and better than mine, she preferred speaking Tibetan as most of the audience were Tibetans and she wanted to put the message through to them. I was rather taken aback by her decision, as all the judges were non-Tibetans and I could ruin her prospects altogether with my translations! Tsering gave great replies to every question the judges asked, and somehow we managed to pull through.

Tsering won the Miss Tibet 2006 title, and the event was wrapped up successfully with firecrackers dancing in the air and music playing in the middle of the night at TIPA ground. The next day, we had a nice farewell party at Hunted Hill Guest House, and by then all of the five beautiful participants had become more like sisters than competitors.

At Miss Earth 2006, Philippines. I am sure these ten days of hectic events were some of their best moments in life. Everyone including the helpers and volunteers were in tears while bidding farewell to one another. Tsering later participated in the Miss Earth Beauty Pageant and became the first  Tibetan woman to have taken part in a major international beauty pageant. Tsering also made headlines when she withdrew from Miss Tourism Pageant as China put pressure on the organizers to add the word  “China” to her sash. She would later travel to Taiwan to lead the  Tibetan Olympics torch rally there.

Tsering Chungtak will be remembered for her inner as well as outer beauty. She had a promising future, and I consider losing her to be a huge loss for all Tibetans. My prayers to this beautiful soul and condolences to her bereaved family members. Om Mani Padme Hung!

Contributed by

Tashi Wangchuk

Co-Director & Co-Producer

Seykhar Films