In 2007, a team of 7 friends from the United States embarked on an amazing journey.
Carrying High Definition Video Cameras and an artist's masterpiece, they flew to Kathmandu, Nepal and beyond.
This is a story of a remarkable collaboration between a respected Buddhist teacher named Amchi Tsampa Ngawang Lama and a painter from Blacksburg, Virginia named Jane Lillian Vance, and of the gifts exchanged between two cultures half a world apart, but linked by friendship and common cause.
The film tells the stories of these two remarkable people, and takes the viewer along as a new kind of thangka, or lineage painting, begins its journey from the Appalachian Mountains to the Himalayas, where a festival celebrates its arrival.
The film team made its way to the town of Jomsom, the gateway to the region called Upper Mustang, and then trekked 150 miles into the restricted area of Lo, where they visited newly discovered cave paintings and met the last hereditary King of Lo, whose blessing they sought for the project. The crew documented the changing way of life in this remote region, as electricity, roads, and running water make life easier, while changing an ancient way of living.
Narrated by Public Radio's Lisa Mullins.
The film is dedicated to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to Morgan Dana Harrington, a student of Jane Vance's who was abducted and murdered during the time this film was undergoing production.
Winner: Best Documentary Film: Virginia Independent Film Festival. Featured Selection of the SouthArts Film Makers Tour 2012. Winner: Golden Kahuna: Honolulu Film Festival. Screened at the Virginia Film Festival, Appalachian Film Festival, and others.
www.janevance.com, www.agiftforthevillage.com, www.agiftforthevillage.blogspot.com
This is a story of a remarkable collaboration between a respected Buddhist teacher named Amchi Tsampa Ngawang Lama and a painter from Blacksburg, Virginia named Jane Lillian Vance, and of the gifts exchanged between two cultures half a world apart, but linked by friendship and common cause.
The film tells the stories of these two remarkable people, and takes the viewer along as a new kind of thangka, or lineage painting, begins its journey from the Appalachian Mountains to the Himalayas, where a festival celebrates its arrival.
The film team made its way to the town of Jomsom, the gateway to the region called Upper Mustang, and then trekked 150 miles into the restricted area of Lo, where they visited newly discovered cave paintings and met the last hereditary King of Lo, whose blessing they sought for the project. The crew documented the changing way of life in this remote region, as electricity, roads, and running water make life easier, while changing an ancient way of living.
Narrated by Public Radio's Lisa Mullins.
The film is dedicated to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to Morgan Dana Harrington, a student of Jane Vance's who was abducted and murdered during the time this film was undergoing production.
Winner: Best Documentary Film: Virginia Independent Film Festival. Featured Selection of the SouthArts Film Makers Tour 2012. Winner: Golden Kahuna: Honolulu Film Festival. Screened at the Virginia Film Festival, Appalachian Film Festival, and others.
www.janevance.com, www.agiftforthevillage.com, www.agiftforthevillage.blogspot.com