Tenzin Phuntsog

an experimental self portrait

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Next Life tells the story of a Tibetan family seeking moments of “temporary happiness” while living in exile in suburban America. As their father suffers from a mysterious inner pain, they turn to Buddhist medicine and spiritual teachings on death and rebirth, embracing the Tibetan concept of "Tse Chema" (reincarnation).

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It showcases a joyful moment of a child dancing to a contemporary Tibetan song in a Tibetan home. The boy looks straight at the camera humorously and charmingly.

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On a Typical day on the sunny grasslands of Tibet, offering a rare glimpse of daily life shared between two family members that have been separated for over 40 years.

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A 2-channel-video on feelings around familial expressions of care, language, identity, and memories of and longing for a lost homeland, which are expressed unspoken.

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It showcases a personal message between the artist's mother and her sister. They discuss keeping in touch through pictures, which represents a form of exchange for their monitored communications.

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Builds a loose narrative around a long distance conversation between a young Tibetan-American man and his Tibetan-born mother. The character wanders through a natural landscape resembling the exiled homeland of his mother, taking photographs in an attempt to “find a frame that evokes a sense of belonging.” The camera in these works is used as an instrument to reveal the impossibility for displaced Tibetan individuals to be seen in actual Tibetan landscapes.

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Single-channel video in which the artist's parents go to sleep on a single mattress on the floor — akin to the one they used when first arriving in the US — within an empty photo studio. The bed seems to be floating mid-air within an erased environment as if any place could be photoshopped around them, heightening the sense of uprooting.

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A Tibetan-American filmmaker explores modes of resistance to Chinese occupation by speaking with activists across generations. A former Tibetan monk broke his vows and became a guerilla leader. The filmmaker's own mother followed the Dalai Lama's Middle Path and raised her family in America. A young Tibetan man attempted to self-immolate in 2006. How does the filmmaker understand his place in the struggle?

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A fictional short that takes its inspiration from Black Yamari, a thangka in the Rubin Museum’s collection. Recalling her childhood memories, a young Tibetan woman living in New York, displaced, questions if all is lost. Realizing that beauty is fleeting, she attempts to find solace in poetry, ancient texts, and art.

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A cinematic landscape film, based on a pilgrimage guide book on the four river sources that originate near Mount Kailash, in Tibet. The film depicts the beauty and brutality of nature and the rapidly evolving development projects taking place on the plateau. Narrated by the artist.

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The sophomore feature from writer/director Tenzin Phuntsog.

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A Tibetan-American filmmaker explores modes of resistance to Chinese occupation by speaking with activists across generations. A former Tibetan monk broke his vows and became a guerilla leader. The filmmaker's own mother followed the Dalai Lama's Middle Path and raised her family in America. A young Tibetan man attempted to self-immolate in 2006. How does the filmmaker understand his place in the struggle?

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Next Life tells the story of a Tibetan family seeking moments of “temporary happiness” while living in exile in suburban America. As their father suffers from a mysterious inner pain, they turn to Buddhist medicine and spiritual teachings on death and rebirth, embracing the Tibetan concept of "Tse Chema" (reincarnation).

Open details →

A Tibetan-American filmmaker explores modes of resistance to Chinese occupation by speaking with activists across generations. A former Tibetan monk broke his vows and became a guerilla leader. The filmmaker's own mother followed the Dalai Lama's Middle Path and raised her family in America. A young Tibetan man attempted to self-immolate in 2006. How does the filmmaker understand his place in the struggle?

Open details →