Award-winning filmmaker, Dirk Simon, has been in Dharamsala, India mentoring the 16-year-old, exiled King of Tibet in the art of filmmaking. Namgyal Wangchuk, is making a film about his life. With Tibetan news on the front pages, this is a rare and intimate view.
Namgyal Wangchuk, the descendant of the Greatest King in Tibetan History, Songtsen Gampo, was born in Indian exile and has never seen the country of his forefathers. The weight of keeping a 1,400-year-old lineage alive rests on his shoulders and “it’s simply not safe for him to go,” explains his mother. Even before riots broke out in Lhasa’s streets, in order to get a visa for China and Tibet, he would have to sign a paper that identifies him as Chinese – giving up his Tibetan identity. “And that is impossible!” he says.