Asian American International Film Festival: Rituals of Resistance + Short: The Little Goddess
VIEW EVENT DETAILSPart of the 42nd Asian American International Film Festival
Presented by Asian CineVision in association with Asia Society
Rituals of Resistance
Dir. Tenzin Phuntsog, Joy Dietrich. 63 mins. DCP.
RITUALS OF RESISTANCE looks at the evolving generational responses by pacifist Tibetans under 65 years of Chinese occupation. Through first-hand oral accounts by three Tibetan exiles living in Nepal, the U.S., and India, the film traces the three paths of resistance from the active and the brutal, to the realm of the symbolic and sacrificial.
After the Chinese invasion in 1950, a devout monk turns to violence and becomes a guerrilla leader, launching pinprick raids from his base in Nepal. An immigrant mother in California, who follows the Dalai Lama’s Middle Path of nonviolence, defies Chinese border restrictions to reunite with her family after 30 years of separation. A student-activist in Dharmsala, India, who grew up under Chinese-controlled Tibet, turns to suicide protest.
Each individual grapples with his or her Buddhist beliefs at the face of national and political imperatives. Interspersed between each portrait, the Tibetan American director reflects on each mode of resistance as he wanders the American frontier that resembles his lost homeland.
This feature film is preceded by the following short film:
THE LITTLE GODDESS
Dir. Gauri Adelkar. India. 15 mins.
Twelve-year-old Durga faces a life-changing decision when presented with the opportunity to leave her rural Indian village.
Followed by a Q&A.
The 42nd Asian American International Film Festival runs from July 25 to August 3.
The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) premiered in the summer of 1978 in New York City answering a growing need for social understanding, cultural diversity in American life, and independent cinema. AAIFF is the first festival in the U.S. to showcase film and video work by artists of the Asian Diaspora. Forty years later, the AAIFF has grown to include films and video from more than 30 countries, a variety of topical panels and workshops, industry mixers, staged readings, exclusive interviews, receptions and more.
Event Details
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021