vailsymposium

Indian-Tibetan filmmakers and artists Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam have been working together for more than thirty years. After completing their graduate studies in the U.S., they worked as independent filmmakers in London for many years before returning to India in 1996. A recurring subject in their work is Tibet, forming an intimate engagement at different levels: personally, politically and artistically. Through their films and artistic work, Sarin and Sonam have attempted to document, question and reflect on the questions of exile, identity, culture and nationalism that confront the Tibetan people. As artists and filmmakers closely connected to Tibet, they believe that they have a responsibility to give voice to the Tibetan freedom struggle. Their films, many of which are in the Tibetan language, have been at the forefront of developing a new cinematic culture among the exile Tibetan community.

They have made several award-winning documentary films and video installations. Their documentary, “The Sun Behind the Clouds” (2009), won the Vaclav Havel Award at the One World Film Festival in Prague. They also made the Tibetan feature film, “Dreaming Lhasa” (2005), produced by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Gere, which premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. Their video installations have shown at the Kochi Biennale, Savvy Contemporary (Berlin), Istanbul Biennale, Contour Biennale 8, Busan Biennale, Mori Art Museum, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and Khoj Studios Delhi, among other venues. Their most recent work, “The Sweet Requiem,” is a narrative feature film with a Tibetan cast and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2018. Sarin and Sonam are also the directors of the Dharamshala International Film Festival, one of India’s leading independent film festivals, which they founded in 2012.