Tibet in Song Trailer (2010)

Trailer for the documentary Tibet in Song.

Tibet in Song journeys daringly into the past 50 years of cultural repression inside Tibet. It is not just a film about music. Director and former Tibetan political prisoner, Ngawang Choephel, weaves stories of beauty, pain, brutality, and resilience, introducing Tibetan music to the world in a way never before seen on film.

The film first shows the beauty of traditional Tibetan folk music, and showcases an array of folk songs from Tibet including working songs, songs about family, and the beauty of the land. After startling visual evidence of the early days of the Chinese invasion, and a concise explanation of the factors leading to the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in 1959, Ngawang Choephel sets the stage for an intimate portrait of how the Chinese presence has affected the lives of Tibetans inside Tibet through music to the present day.

What follows is a heartening tale of cultural exploitation and resistance, including Ngawang' own imprisonment for filming folk songs in Tibet, and ends with a look at Tibet today, a country still plagued by Chinese brutality, yet still willing to fight for the existence of its own cultural heritage.

Tibet in Song is directed by Ngawang Choephel, and contains original music composed by Ngawang himself, and an array of traditional folk songs sung by Tibetans themselves.