Tibetan Film “River” Screened at TUFS

October 30, 2018

On Friday the 26th of October (2018), the film “River” (“Gtsngbo”), which was officially released in Japan last year, was screened in AGORA Global’s Prometheus Hall as TUFS Cinema’s Tibetan Film Feature.

After the screening, a talk session was held by TUFS Professor Izumi Hoshi (Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa), Nihon University’s Associate Professor Kensaku Ohkawa, and manga artist Kuranishi.

During the talk session, on top of discussing how they felt and what they realized after watching the film, the guest speakers also gave commentary on the culture and lifestyle in the Amdo region of Tibet, which was the setting of this film, and events of historical importance such as the 1966 Cultural Revolution that continued for ten years. At the end of the talk, Tibetan writer Lha Byams Rgyal, author of “Waiting for Snow” (translated by Professor Izumi Hoshi, Bensei Publishing Inc., 2015) took to the stage and shared his thoughts on the screening. Lha Byams Rgyal is also friends with Songthar Gyal, the director of “River”, and said he would tell him about the screening.

Around 300 people from both inside and outside of TUFS attended this screening, and left comments such as “I was able to understand the culture and background more after hearing the commentary”, and “I want to pay more attention to Tibetan literature and films”.