Review
12th Cinewil movie night in Wil on October 19, 2021
The 12th cinema evening of the Snowland Children Foundation (SCF) in the Cinewil in Wil SG was a complete success: Not only did so many spectators come as never before, namely far more than 100, but the film “The Last Dalai Lama?” of the director Mickey Lemle was also a very special “treat”: The film was shot on the occasion of the 80th birthday SH of the Dalai Lama in the USA and should actually be shown in Wil in 2020 on the occasion of the 85th birthday SH. But – the performance fell after the elaborate planning so to speak “in the Corona” and had to be canceled at short notice and the Snowland Children Foundation was left with the financial and personnel effort.
But now the time had come and – besides the other spectators – many Tibetans were eagerly awaiting this film on the big screen. There were even 3 monks from the Tibet Monastery in Rikon present, which was of course a great honor for the organizers.
At the beginning, the president of the foundation board, Dr. Exl-Preysch, welcomed the audience on behalf of the Snowland Children Foundation and took the opportunity to present the Tibetan Food Pyramid, which was developed in the two Corona years 2020/2021 together with the Science Council of the Tibetan Children’s Village Chauntra in India. Meanwhile, it is available in the original in English and has already been adapted for the German-speaking countries in German and also translated into Tibetan. There is also a 7-page explanatory brochure for the German pyramid, which, however, differs significantly from the English and Tibetan brochure that is yet to be created: It takes into account the specific situation in the German-speaking countries, where, for example, there is significantly more milk and dairy products as well as meat than in the Tibetan Children’s Villages, where these foods can only be served very rarely for reasons of cost and hygiene.
Jigme Shitsetsang, also a foundation board member, but above all a politician and city councilor in Wil, made a wonderful and insightful introduction to the film and also drew a bow to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. Many Tibetans and also Tibetan organizations have lobbied that there will be no diplomatic missions in Beijing and also that the television broadcast of the games should be greatly reduced. It is feared that China will use the games to make massive political publicity for the communist dictatorship in China. We should not tolerate this because of the massive human rights violation against the Tibetans but also Uyghurs.
The film itself was great and showed all important stages in the life of His Holiness with contemporary documents, even the reception by US President George Bush in the USA. Again and again SH himself comes to speak and fascinates – as always – with his particularly infectious laughter. He also presents the “Atlas of Emotions,” which he developed together with a team of scientists. Many interviews, including the rather rare appearances of family members, especially his older brother, round out the film and provide further insight into this probably most fascinating personality of the last century, but also of this century. The film ends with the question of what will happen when His Holiness dies. In the end, the question remains open, even if it is clearly stated that China presumes and will presume to determine the choice of the next Dalai Lama.
Jigme Shitsetsang made a great comparison in his introduction: If the atheist Chinese government wanted to determine the next Dalai Lama, it would be as if the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan wanted to determine the next Pope…. What a fitting and impressive comparison, which clearly showed us how absurd this request of the Chinese is.
After the presentation, the sales booths of GSTF and SCF were still lively frequented and many good conversations were held. We think that all visitors went home happy, but also very thoughtful.
2nd benefit event “One village helps the other” on May 10, 2019
Already for the second time the ecumenical community of Bichelsee-Balterswil has called for a charity event, this time even in an extended constellation with the communities of Dussnang and Fischingen.
It was again a great celebration and all the participating communities were so active! The program went almost “breathlessly through the night” and carried away all those present. There was a raffle with many valuable prizes and auctions with “unsellable” prizes.
In the end we raised again an incredible 12,500 CHF. With this money and the proceeds of the 10th kino event, we could now start with our Ecofarm in Timbu, Nepal: First we are building two big greenhouses, which will be ready already in July 2019!
>>> see under projects Nepal Ecofarm
Mayor Beat Weibel gives the welcoming speech
Among the enthusiastic spectators also NBB journalist Jörg Rothweiler
11th Cinewil movie night on February 11, 2020 in the new look of Cinewil!
On February 11, we were allowed to show a film related to Tibet for the 11th time in Cinewil “in a new guise”. Now Cinewil is no longer “just” a cinema with a small café-bar, but a lounge-café-bar with a cinema. This expansion has certainly made it more attractive.
On February 11, there was a film with the Dolpo-Pa Tibetans, who have lived in the northeast of Nepal for several hundred years at over 5,000 meters above sea level. To this day, the area is practically only accessible by foot. Even today, the majority of these people live from yak breeding and the trade in salt. In addition, trekking tourism has come, but it is still very limited because of the difficult accessibility.
Shot in 1999, the film by French director Eric Valli, who himself lived in Nepal for many years and has created several documentaries and illustrated books, is a co-production between Nepal, France, Great Britain and Switzerland. It shows with powerful and impressive images the hard life of the Dolpo-la. With their annual caravans, they come from their high-altitude villages to the plains to exchange the salt extracted from above for vital grain, especially barley. The director has deliberately worked with local amateur actors and anyone who has seen the highly impressive film understands why only this cast could guarantee the authenticity of the film. This applies not only to the plot of the generational conflict between the aging charismatic caravan leader Thinlé, who eventually has to hand over the leadership to the young “savage” Karma, but also to the caravan of yaks itself, which could hardly have been performed by professional actors. At some points this film was more exciting than many a thriller, especially when the long caravan had to walk unsecured along a trekking path about 50 cm wide on a steep slope high above a lake. This was no Hollywood studio, no this was reality and incredibly impressive. The film received a nomination for “best foreign language film” at the Oscars in 2000. In the same year it won the category “Best Cinematography” and “Best Film Score” at the French César.
Before the performance, during the break and also afterwards, the 130 spectators could not only strengthen themselves in the café-bar-lounge of Cinewil, but also get information and buy a souvenir at the information booth of the partner “GSTF (*) Sektion Ostschweiz” and the booth of the Snowland Children Foundation with handicraft things from Dharamsala (city of the Dalai Lama in India) and Nepal. Of course, also here the proceeds went to the charitable foundation in favor of the Nepal projects. One may be curious what the 12th cinema evening in autumn of this year has to offer!
(*) Society for Swiss Tibetan Friendship
With the total of 1,550 CHF of the 11th cinema evening we will continue to support the reconstruction of the village Timbu in the Helambu area north-east of Kathmandu. There, more than 90% of all houses were destroyed in the earthquake of 2015.
More information under Ecofarm Nepal
A big THANK YOU to all participants, donors, presenters and other supporters!
This was reported in the News Bichelsee Balterswil (NBB) 3/20 (in German): NBB_03_2020_33_SCF_Tibetabend
