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Tibet, the mysterious roof of the world, the seat of enlightened monks – only one of them is against it: Gendun Choephel is the name of the pugnacious monk who turned his back on monastic life in 1934 and set out for the modern age.

He is a rebel who heats up the minds of the Tibetan authorities. A reincarnated lama who also loves women and alcohol. A free spirit who is far ahead of his time and today has become a beacon of hope for a free Tibet.

This cinematic journey through time takes the life story of this unorthodox monk as an opportunity to uncover an image of Tibet that runs counter to common clichés. Numerous astonishing and rare historical photographs are made accessible to the general public here for the first time.

Elegantly and surprisingly, the film interweaves then and now: archival images of magnificent caravans and monasteries alternate with scenes of discos and images of multi-lane expressways in Lhasa, where pilgrims prostrate themselves to walk around their shrine. “Angry Monk” provides a timely and fascinating glimpse into a country whose fateful past is reflected in today’s everyday life – diverse and contradictory.

The documentary “Angry Monk” tells the story of a man who travels extensively in search of something that might release ancient Tibet from its torpor. The lateral thinker Gendun Choephel always remains open to the new. He is a stranger in his homeland and homeless in a foreign land — a wanderer between worlds.

(The documentary “Angry Monk” was at the same time the main part of my Ph.D. in Visual Anthropology at the University of Zurich)

→ Ph.D.: ANGRY MONK: Literary, Historical, and Oral Sources for a Documentary Film (2007)

→ Gendun Choephel Conference at the Latse Library, New York 

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