Journey from Zanskar

International Premiere

Zanskar, in the northernmost part of India, is one of the most isolated regions of the Himalayas. Inaccessibility and isolation has protected Zanskar — also known as “Little Tibet” — from cultural change. Today, it is considered the last place on earth where traditional Tibetan Buddhist norms and ways of life still exist.

This will change when the Indian government completes a modern paved road into Zanskar to provide its military with access to India’s fragile borders with Pakistan and China.

Inspired by the Dalai Lama, two monks select 17 young children aged between five and twelve to be educated at a Buddhist school on the other side of the mountain. The monks want to educate the next generation in the Tibetan alphabet, so that they can learn the Tibetan Buddhist scripture and in doing so preserve their language, heritage, and culture.

But to get there, they have to trek on foot across the Himalayan range, reaching altitudes of 17,000 feet (more than 5000 metres). And the trek is always arduous and often fatal. Capturing their commitment to culture, Journey from Zanskar is an emotionally driven documentary that is best represented in the words of a mother: “Sometimes, you have to give up your children in order to save them.”

Narrated by Richard Gere and helmed by veteran Frederick Marx (producer of the Academy Award winner — Hoop Dreams), this documentary gives an account of their odyssey.