6 Movies Starring The Dalai Lama

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This bold documentary follows a young Tibetan refugee in Quebec as she returns to her native land carrying a video message by the Dalai Lama. Tibetan families gather around, transfixed by the images of the leader who since 1950 has been trying to obtain permission from the Chinese authorities to return to his homeland and his people.

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This bold documentary follows a young Tibetan refugee in Quebec as she returns to her native land carrying a video message by the Dalai Lama. Tibetan families gather around, transfixed by the images of the leader who since 1950 has been trying to obtain permission from the Chinese authorities to return to his homeland and his people.

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How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet. Part biography, part philosophy, part adventure and part politics, "10 Questions for The Dalai Lama" conveys more than history and more than answers - it opens a window into the heart of an inspiring man. If you had only one hour, what would you ask?

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This docudrama tells the story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II. Winton, now 102 years old, did not speak about these events with anyone for more than half a century. His exploits would have probably been forgotten if his wife, fifty years later, hadn't found a suitcase in the attic, full of documents and transport plans. Today the story of this rescue is known all over the world. Dozens of Winton's "children" have been found and to this day his family has grown to almost 6,000 people, many of whom have gone on to achieve great things themselves.

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This documentary presents perspectives on Buddhism as practiced by clergy and millions of families in Japan today by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork about prayer practice and mortuary rituals "on the ground". "Souls" of Zen thereby refers to one of Japan's most enduring traditions - the commemoration of ancestral spirits. We visit rural graveyards, urban temples, modern funeral halls, and public events to trace the rapid change this tradition is undergoing in the last decades and, most recently, in the wake of the tsunami.

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Nicholas Vreeland walked away from a worldly life of privilege to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Grandson of legendary Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland, and trained by Irving Penn to become a photographer, Nicholas' life changed drastically upon meeting a Tibetan master, one of the teachers of the Dalai Lama. Soon thereafter, he gave up his glamorous life to live in a monastery in India, where he studied Buddhism for fourteen years. In an ironic twist of fate, Nicholas went back to photography to help his fellow monks rebuild their monastery. Recently, the Dalai Lama appointed Nicholas as Abbot of the monastery, making him the first Westerner in Tibetan Buddhist history, to attain such a highly regarded position.