Dhondup Wangchen
Imprisoned Prize - Finalist 2011
Dhondup Wangchen understood the power of documentary film making to convey a message of hope.
Without any formal training and purely motivated by the desire to document the need for social change,
he travelled across Tibet with only one assistant, using a hand held camera to make the first authentic
documentary by a Tibetan film maker from inside Tibet.
He had just completed filming this extensive series of interviews with ordinary Tibetans who bravely voiced their true feelings on the upcoming Beijing Olympics and the Chinese occupation of Tibet, when he was arrested by Chinese authorities in March 2008. He was sentenced to six years for subversion and inciting separatism. His trial was held in secret and his wife says he was denied access to independent legal assistance. He is currently being held in Xinchuan Prison, a prison labour camp in Eastern Tibet, where he has been subject to harsh treatment and denied medicine.
The interviews he had filmed were smuggled out of Tibet at great risk and have been made into a remarkable 28 minute film, ‘Leaving Fear Behind’, which has been screened in more than 30 countries and was secretly shown to journalists on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. The film highlights the frustrations of ordinary Tibetans at the deterioration of their language and culture, the destruction of the nomadic Tibetan culture through Chinese forced settlement policies, the vilification of the Dalai Lama and the broken promises made by the Chinese government to improve conditions in Tibet before the Beijing Olympics.
Dhondup’s wife and children have fled to exile in India, and his wife supports the family by selling bread in the local city square. She speaks wherever possible about her husband’s plight, and is delighted that he has become a role model for many Tibetans, inspiring them to undertake similar projects and use creativity to convey a powerful message of hope and the potential for change in even the darkest parts of the world.
He had just completed filming this extensive series of interviews with ordinary Tibetans who bravely voiced their true feelings on the upcoming Beijing Olympics and the Chinese occupation of Tibet, when he was arrested by Chinese authorities in March 2008. He was sentenced to six years for subversion and inciting separatism. His trial was held in secret and his wife says he was denied access to independent legal assistance. He is currently being held in Xinchuan Prison, a prison labour camp in Eastern Tibet, where he has been subject to harsh treatment and denied medicine.
The interviews he had filmed were smuggled out of Tibet at great risk and have been made into a remarkable 28 minute film, ‘Leaving Fear Behind’, which has been screened in more than 30 countries and was secretly shown to journalists on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. The film highlights the frustrations of ordinary Tibetans at the deterioration of their language and culture, the destruction of the nomadic Tibetan culture through Chinese forced settlement policies, the vilification of the Dalai Lama and the broken promises made by the Chinese government to improve conditions in Tibet before the Beijing Olympics.
Dhondup’s wife and children have fled to exile in India, and his wife supports the family by selling bread in the local city square. She speaks wherever possible about her husband’s plight, and is delighted that he has become a role model for many Tibetans, inspiring them to undertake similar projects and use creativity to convey a powerful message of hope and the potential for change in even the darkest parts of the world.
Fast Facts
Year of Entry: 2011
Category: Imprisoned Prize
Position: Finalist
Artform: Film
Location: Tibet
Permalink: http://www.freedomtocreate.com/dhondup-wangchen
Category: Imprisoned Prize
Position: Finalist
Artform: Film
Location: Tibet
Permalink: http://www.freedomtocreate.com/dhondup-wangchen
