President Sangay awards 3 lakhs each to 3 finalists of Tibet TV Take-Off Film Grant

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA, Oct 25: The President of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) Dr Lobsang Sangay awarded Tibet TV Take-Off Film Grant 2017 to the three finalists at a press conference held earlier today at CTA’s Department of Information and International Relation’s (DIIR) Lhakpa Tsering hall.

Dr Sangay awarded a total of nine lakh Indian rupees, three lakhs each to Thupten Sonam Dorje, Kalsang Jigme and Jamphel Sherab, the three finalists of the Tibet TV Take-Off Film Grant 2017.

The finalists were selected out of twelve applicants by a jury that consisted of independent film makers Tenzing Sonam, Kalsang Rinchen and Tenzin Tsetan.

22809985_1699244870119916_662629056_nThe judges will each mentor a finalist during the course of completing their film. Though the young and budding filmmakers do have artistic freedom, the themes of films; Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, Democracy in Exile and Homeland and Exile: Towards a Common Future were predetermined to fall in line with the political stand of the CTA.

The finalists will each make a film on the themes and shall complete it before Feb 20, 2018.

22809985_1699244870119916_662629056_n“We are very happy to announce the Tibet TV Take-Off Film Grant because it’s a new initiative on the part of CTA and in the near future, we would also want to have a Tibetan movie industry like Hollywood and Bollywood. Because countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Mongolia also have lots of films being made and through films they reach out to a lot of people around the world as films are the most powerful medium of communication,” Sikyong Sangay said and added, “Through filmmaking we want to reach out to larger audience in the exile community, inside Tibet, China and internationally. Hence this Tibet TV Take-Off Film Grant is very important.”

The lack of Tibetan films featuring at the film festivals in Dharamsala has inspired the Political head of the Tibetan people to come up with the initiative of Tibet TV Take-Off Film Grant.

“When I went through the lists of movies being shown at the film festivals in Dharamsala, most of the films were mainly made by non- Tibetans. At Tibet Film festival, there was some talk about lack of funding and resources. Hence we came out with the grant to assist creative minds with funds and resources,” Sikyong Sangay remarked.

Tibet TV Take-Off Film Grant 2017 is an initiative of CTA to encourage budding Tibetan filmmakers in the exile community to make short feature/documentary films for Tibet TV.