NEWS

At only twelve years old Namgyal Wangchuk Trichen Lhagyari was the only recognized descendent of the first Dharma King of Tibet Songsten Gampo, who died in 698 A.D. Carrying the unique responsibility of representing Tibet’s unbroken history and heritage, Namgyal was crowned by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in June 2004 in Dharamsala, India where he still lives, in exile.

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The Human Rights Watch and Adobe Youth Voices traveling program continues and a 12-minute version of our Mozambique film will screen in San Francisco on March 11 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and in London on March 19 at the Ritzy and March 20 at the ICA. The San Francisco Examiner says about our film, “Beautifully filmed, and presented with grace, it had me in tears.”

Editing of MY COUNTRY IS TIBET is finished with help from an extraordinary group of talented producers and editors and with the distinct voice and direction of our young filmmaker. Plans are underway for a gala screening for May 20, 2010 in Manhattan to coincide with the New York City visit of the Dalai Lama.

Paul, Hastings, the international law firm, is the new pro bono counsel for BYkids. Attorneys Erika C. Collins, Robert Sherman and Lisa Willis have generously agreed to help with our copyright, trademark and contract work. “It is an honor for the firm to represent you,” said Ms. Collins, a partner in the firm.

A 12-minute version of our Mozambique film is one of ten films selected from 300 as part of the second annual Youth Producing Change series (a collaboration between Adobe Youth Voices and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival) to screen at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. “The Adobe Foundation is proud to partner with Human Rights Watch in providing a platform for these remarkable young filmmakers to explore and comment on their world,” says Michelle Mann, executive director of the Adobe Foundation. “By calling attention to human rights issues, these youth are inspiring audiences worldwide and demonstrating the power to express ideas, engage stakeholders and effect change through digital media.”

HOME IS WHERE YOU FIND IT wins Best of the Fest and the Dan Eldon Activist Award in the My Hero Short Film Festival, at the University of Southern California’s Norris Theater. In addition to well-deserved kudos and bravos, young filmmaker Alcides Soares receives a $2,000 cash prize that will support his next film.

Griffin Adams, a member of the Junior Board and a senior at the Collegiate School in New York, assembled 250 Collegiate high school students for a screening, discussion and lunch with Holly Carter. The reviews from the audience were heartwarming. “Watching the movie made me feel the problem…I felt involved and affected,” said one student. And Laura Hansen head of the upper school, offered this: “BYkids allows American youth to become genuinely engaged in the lives of young people from places far away, using the power of story to help turn strangers into friends.”

HOME IS WHERE YOU FIND IT screens in Berlin at the Globian DocFest and is chosen for the Manhattan Short Film Festival, the New Orleans Film Festival and the South African Film Festival.

HOME IS WHERE YOU FIND IT wins first place Directorial Discovery Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and best Documentary Short at DocuWest. Congratulations to Alcides and the many people who made the film possible.

HOME IS WHERE YOU FIND IT premieres at SilverDocs and Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York with Alcides Soares, our young director from Mozambique, in attendance with both his mentors. He is poetic and inspiring.