Angry Monk · 2005

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Documentary

Angry Monk – Reflections on Tibet

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Luc Schaedler | go between films
CH 2005 | 97  | EN, DE, FR, Tib
→ Video On Demand

→ Statement Director (am)
→ Interview Director (am)
→ Bio of Gendun Choephel (am)
→ Texts of Gendun Choephel (am)
→ Downloads (am)
(Photos & Presskit)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Video On Demand

Angry Monk (2005)
en, de, fr, tib

→ click here  

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Playlist (9 Clips):

Unpublished scenes · 2005

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Interview with Luc Schaedler about his film «Angry Monk» and its making on YouTube (part 1 – 4):

(German with English subtitles)

⋅ About «Angry Monk» 1 (7:12)

⋅ About «Angry Monk» 2 (7:31) → watch on YouTube

⋅ The making 1 (7:46) → watch on YouTube

⋅ The making 2 (5:48) → watch on YouTube

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ FESTIVALS (selection)

– Sundance, Nomination Grand Jury Award
→ Talk on «Sundance TV» with Luc Schaedler (YouTube)
– Busan (competition)
– Vancouver (competition)
– Montréal, Festival Nouveau Cinema (competition)
– München DOK.fest (competition)
– Melbourne (competition)
– Auckland (competition)
– Solothurner Filmtage Official Selection

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

ARTICLES on «Angry Monk»:
→ History & Anthropology (2008) 
→ Visual Anthropology (2008) 
→ American Anthropologist (2010)
→ IIAS Newsletter (2008) – Rebel with a cause
→ AEMS Review (2008) – A review 
→ Himal Southasian (2006) – The new reasoning

LINKS to «Angry Monk»:
→ Swiss Films 
→ IMDb.com 
→ The Movie Database 
→ More on Gendun Choephel
 → Gendun Choephel (Wiki)
(Wiki)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

   —  

→ home
→ films
→ contact

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Data Protection Statement

Luc Schaedler while shooting in Tibet, 2002

Feb 08, 2019 | films | Comments Off on Angry Monk · 2005

Video On Demand

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Streaming

go between films

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Link to the Video On Demand Website where the documentaries and videos of «go between films» can be bought or rented in different language versions.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

· A Long Way Home (2018)
→ Available in Switzerland

Rent from USD 5 | CHF 5 | € 4.50
Buy from USD 12 | CHF 12 | € 11
→ Credit Card or PayPal

A Long Way Home (2018)
en, de, fr

→ click here (Switzerland)  

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ For international sales
of «A Long Way Home»:

→ click here

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

VIMEO ON DEMAND

Available worldwide 

Watermarks (2013)
en, de, fr

→ click here  

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Angry Monk (2005)
en, de, fr

→ click here  

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Made in Hong Kong (1997)
en, de, fr

→ click here 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ click here 

The documentaries of «go between films» (Luc Schaedler) can also be bought as DVD in different language versions.

Each DVD: USD 25 + USD 5 (shipping)
Total: USD 30 | CHF 30 | € 25
• Credit Card or PayPal needed

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ home
→ films
→ contact

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Data Protection Statement

Mar 15, 2018 | streaming+dvd | Comments Off on Video On Demand

DVD – Selection

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A selection of documentaries and videos of «go between films» can be bought in different language versions for all territories.

Each DVD:

USD 25.00 + USD 5.00 (shipping)
Total: USD 30.00 | CHF 30.00)

Buy DVD with Credit Card or PayPal

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A Long Way Home (2018)

→ Switzerland (de,fr,en,chin)

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ International Sales of «A Long Way Home»

→ Hier klicken

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Available worldwide

Watermarks (2013)

→ de,en,fr,chin | 60 mins. bonus

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Angry Monk (2005)

→ de,en,fr,chin,tib | 60 mins. bonus

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Made in Hong Kong (1997)

→ de, fr, en
→ Specify desired language

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Video On Demand

Link to the Vimeo On Demand Page of «go between films» where the documentaries and videos can be bought and rented in different language versions.

Rent:
USD 5.00 | CHF 5.00

Buy:
USD 12.00 | CHF 12.00

With Credit Card or PayPal

→ home
→ films
→ contact

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Data Protection Statement

Mar 13, 2018 | streaming+dvd | Comments Off on DVD – Selection

ANGRY MONK – materials

Additional Materials

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

In the section «Angry Monk – Material» you can find additional information about this documentary by Luc Schaedler (go between films).

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Buy/rent on Vimeo On Demand 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Statement Director

→ Interview Director

→ Bio Gendun Choephel

→ Poems of Gendun Choephel

→ Downloads

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Interview with Luc Schaedler about his film «Angry Monk» and its making on YouTube (part 1 – 4):

(German with English subtitles)

⋅ About «Angry Monk» 1 (7:12)

→ About «Angry Monk» 2 (7:31) 

→ The making 1 (7:46) 

→ The making 2 (5:48) 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

   —  

→ home
→ films
→ contact

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Data Protection Statement

Dec 29, 2011 | materials | Comments Off on ANGRY MONK – materials

· Statement Director – am

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Angry Monk

Luc Schaedler

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Why Gendun Choephel

«The idea for the film «Angry Monk» originated during several trips to China, Tibet and India between 1988 and 1999. Without being aware of it, I travelled to the same places that the protagonist of the movie visited 50 years before. Since 1988 I have been studying the country of Tibet and how the western world perceives it. And I repeatedly came across the name of Gendun Choephel.»

A wanderer between worlds

«Gendun Choephel (1903-51) was a wanderer between worlds — at once a dreamer, a rebel and a researcher. He lived in a time that was decisive for the future of his country, between the British colonial invasion of 1903 and the occupation by the Chinese army in 1951. At that time Tibet wasn’t the inaccessible Shangri-La that people often claim, but a torn country on the verge of big changes. Tibet’s attempts to introduce a new social structure and to find its own way into the twentieth century failed because of the resistance of the conservative nobility and the monasteries.»

Breaking the isolation

«As Tibet moved towards isolation, Gendun Choephel was open to new experiences. We can trace his path through his writings, articles, pictures and sketches. He looked at his own society in a critical way, was interested in political issues and tried to apply them to everyday life; he was, therefore, the initiator of critical and intellectual thought within Tibetan society.»

Becoming a role model

«During his last years, Gendun Choephel became a role model for many young Tibetans in Chinese-occupied Tibet and also for those in exile in India. While their parents lost Tibet, the younger generation looked for role models that would allow a critical view of their own society. But the western world only slowly became aware of Choephel because his life story doesn’t mesh with our rigid image of Tibet, which prefers to portray Tibetans as victims rather than the makers of their own history.»
Luc Schaedler

→ Article: Buddhism and Film (German only)
(Luc Schaedler)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Luc Schaedler, 2018

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

   —  

→ home
→ films
→ contact

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Data Protection Statement

Dec 29, 2011 | materials | Comments Off on · Statement Director – am

· Interview Director – am

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Angry Monk

Luc Schaedler

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Interview director by Till Brockmann, 2005

Why did you chose the title «Angry Monk»?

A monk is not supposed to be angry. The title is thus contradictory and provocative and that’s intentional; this contradiction is part of what the movie is about. The way the West sees Tibet has more to do with our own projections than with reality. Interestingly, in German and English there is a note of irony in the title which gets completely lost in the Tibetan translation. I found out that the title cannot really be translated into Tibetan. Apparently the combination of «angry» and «monk» is not planned…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Interview with Luc Schaedler about his film «Angry Monk» and its making on YouTube (part 1 – 4):

(German with English subtitles)

⋅ About «Angry Monk» 1 (7:12)

⋅ About «Angry Monk» 2 (7:31) → watch on YouTube

⋅ The making 1 (7:46) → watch on YouTube

⋅ The making 2 (5:48) → watch on YouTube

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Why a film about Tibet?

I travelled a lot in Asia and I often passed through Tibet. I first went to Tibet in 1989, shortly after the Tiananmen massacre in Bejing – during the time of the Lhasa uprisings. I also worked on Tibetan issues during my anthropology studies at university. A part of me is always on the road, seeking an encounter with all things foreign. My film is surely also the result of this personal interest, a way to give it a shape. But it also has purpose to actively participate in a specific discourse, the discussion that the West had long been having about Tibet.

Why a road movie?

It was the idea from the beginning. Somehow that’s the point of the whole story. Because in a broader sense the whole life of Gendun Choephel, the central figure, was a journey. A journey from the border provinces to the city of Lhasa. From there he went abroad and came back again. Apart from this outer journey, there was the inner journey of a man who, agile-minded as he was, always remained «on the road».

And furthermore, as already mentioned, the film is structured like that because I got to know Tibet as a traveller, too. Finally, a last aspect, the film is a dialogue with the past which is also a kind of travelling, time-travelling so to speak: the film moves back and forth between present and past that mirror each other…

What about a permission to film?

I was aware from the beginning that the authorities would have informants and therefore always knew what was going on. Thus, shooting secretly and getting an official permit for a bigger project were out of question. For that reason I had the idea to work with a small and unobtrusive team; actually, just the cameraman Filip Zumbrunn and me. We behaved like tourists, like teachers who wanted to show the video material to their students back home.

Partly we were shooting the usual stuff: markets, monasteries, like all tourists do… (smiling), but we were really lucky, too; if we had been searched at some point and they would have found all the many videocassettes, who knows… But even if the film is critical of China, I clearly never meant to make a film against China. What I am interested in is the inner dynamics of Tibet and in this regard China is just one of the factors. After all I’m critical of Tibetan culture as well.

What do you mean by that?

First of all, I’m very critical of the one-sided way the West looks at Tibet: as a spiritual refuge, an inspiration for the mind… some managers even go to Buddhist monasteries to prepare for the next round of globalization debates. A lot of damage is done by reducing Tibet to a peace-loving pseudo-paradise, perceiving it as «Shangri-la» with all the Tibetans having a spiritual message ready for us. I believe this harms the struggle for Tibetan indepence. Furthermore, I find the romanticizing of the past rather problematic, though Tibet gets idealized not only in the West but by Tibetans as well.

For instance, hardly 5% of the people controlled the whole country and the mingling of religion and politics developed into an unholy alliance of the aristocracy and the monastic establishment. This prevented necessary reforms and a policy of openness. Such things are often forgotten. Gendun Choephel and many others as well, such as the predecessor of the present Dalai Lama, were open for change but they failed time and again with their ideas because of the opposition of conservative forces who of course defend their privileges.

Was your critical approach intentional?

Yes, of course. There are so many films full of admiration for the monasteries, for the lamaism and also for the nomadic society which has been celebrated as a remnant of an age-old, intact culture. Similarly, I dislike political reports that make us believe that Tibet is a destroyed culture and that any resistance against the Chinese is defeated or futile in the end.

But the situation is more complex and indeed a paradox: on the one hand so much has been destroyed since the invasion in 1950, especially during the cultural revolution it was done with meticulous precision. On the other hand, the Tibetans prove every day that there is a life under the Chinese. They have preserved their culture and language, they have kept alive more than one thinks. For instance, many of Gendun Choephel’s writings and paintings featured in my film, have been preserved in Tibet. In this sense Gendun Choephel becomes part of this «survival».

What I mean to say is that the Tibetans shouldn’t be perceived just as victims but as a people who have managed very cleverly to resist the Chinese and who will go on showing their subversive spirit. I never intended to make a purely biographical film on Gendun Choephel, but he serves as a key to the understanding of the history and the complex present of Tibet. Choephel was a man with many sides who had fought for change and at the same time remained a Buddhist all his life. He never turned his back to his own culture.

I deliberately chose to have only Tibetans speak about Gendun Choephel in my film: old people who knew him and other Tibetans of a later generation. At the end I cut out all the Western scholars and Tibet experts whom I had interviewed as well…

Why is the Dalai Lama missing?

I did this on purpose. Probably it would have been easy enough to get an interview with him. But I didn’t want his presence to dominate the film and the other interview partners to be pushed to the background. No matter what he would have said about Gendun Choephel, it would have been a confirmation for many that the film is justified. I didn’t want that, I didn’t want to have this «offical stamp». In my view it is very important that there is a parallel discussion on Tibet which doesn’t rely exclusively on the voice of the Dalai Lama.

Interview with Luc Schaedler

Luc Schaedler, shooting of «Angry Monk», 2001

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

   —  

→ home
→ films
→ contact

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Data Protection Statement

Oct 29, 2011 | materials | Comments Off on · Interview Director – am

· Bio Gendun Choephel – am

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Angry Monk

Bio of Gendun Choephel

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Gendun Choephel’s Childhood in Eastern Tibet
(1903-1927)

Gendun Choephel (Chopel, Chöphel) was born 1903 in a small village in eastern Tibet, near the silk road, at the Chinese border, in a remote region populated by nomads. This region was inhabited by Muslims, Chinese and Tibetans that were constantly fighting each other. The villages often were attacked and looted by warlords. In this explosive and mixed cultural climate Gendun Choephel started to be interested in his Tibetan identity early on.

He received a traditional education as a monk in the most important monastery of the region, where he developped a friendship with an American missionary that the other monks and his family resented. In 1927 he left the monastery and moved to Lhasa with a caravan of merchants.

Monastery education in Lhasa
(1927-34)

In Lhasa Gendun Choephel studied in Drepung, the biggest monastery in the world. His rebellious attempts to bypass the monastery’s rules annoyed the other monks. Ultimately, monastic life suffocated him too much in Lhasa as well and he left the monastery. Afterwards he survived as a portrait painter and artist for rich aristocrats in Lhasa. In 1934 he met Rahul Sankrityayan, an Indian researcher of Buddhist teachings who also was a communist activist for the Indian struggle for independence from British colonialists.

Journey across Tibet (1934-1938)

Rahul Sankrityayan and Gendun Choephel travelled together across Tibet searching for old texts that were destroyed in India centuries earlier but had survived in remote monasteries in Tibet. For Rahul, historical research is part of his political fight; for him researching history is the key to the present. Gendun Choephel was Rahuls translator as well as his mediator for Tibetan culture. At the same time the fascinating stories about India awoke his curiosity.

Journey across India (1938-1946)

In India, Gendun Choephel was confronted with a foreign world. For the first time he saw a railway and other technological achievements. India was then undergoing radical changes and, contrary to Tibet, the Indians took their destiny into their own hands. The fight for independece was at its peak. Gendun Choephel’s view of his own culture started to change; in India he experienced the most creative phase of his life.

He travelled across the country as a Buddhist pilgrim, lived in the crowded city of Calcutta, saw the ocean, visited brothels and libraries, wrote his first newspaper articles and translated the Kamasutra in Tibetan, enriching it with his own experiences. He sent many of his writings, notes and sketches back to Tibet in order to convey his impressions of a foreign world.

Return to Tibet (1946-51)

In 1946 Gendun Choephel returned to Tibet passing through the Indian-Tibetan border town of Kalimpong which, next to British and Chinese agents, was a nest of radical Tibetans who fell out of grace with Lhasa’s government. In 1939 they founded the Tibetan Revolutionary Party. Choephel got acquainted with the party and designed their logo: a sickle crossed by a sword. The Tibetan Revolutionary Party’s goal was to overthrow the tyrannical regime in Lhasa.

In Lhasa (1946-51)

When Gendun Choephel arrived in Lhasa the Tibetan government was already informed about his political activities. He began to write the political history of Tibet but this attempt was abruptly stopped by his arrest. He was accused of insurrection and thrown in jail for three years.

In 1949 he was freed. But his heart was broken and he drowned his desperation in alcohol. Soon afterwards the Chinese army overran the Tibetan troops in eastern Tibet and, in 1951, shortly after the occupation of Lhasa by the Chinese army, Gendun Choephel died. Supposedly he commented on the political events of his era in this way: «Now we are in deep shit!»

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

More on Gendun Choephel:

Gendun Choephel by Donald Lopez Jr.
(Chicago University Press)

Gendun Choephel (Chopel, Chöphel) 1
(Shambala.com)

Gendun Choephel (Chopel, Chöphel) 2
Treasury of Lives

Gendun Choephel (Chopel, Chöphel) 3
Wikipedia

Gendun Choephel (Chopel, Chöphel) 4
(Rigpa Wiki)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Gendun Choephel shortly before his death, 1951

Gendun Choephel, 1940’s

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

   —  

→ home
→ films
→ contact

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Data Protection Statement

Aug 29, 2011 | materials | Comments Off on · Bio Gendun Choephel – am

· Poems Gendun Choephel – am

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Angry Monk

Poems of Gendun Choephel

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

On British colonialism
Calcutta 1941

Sponsored by kings and ministers
the colonialists sent out
a great army of bandits,
calling them traders.

They introduced
new forms of living,
but their laws
were only good
for the educated and wealthy.

As for the poor,
their small livelihoods
are sucked like blood
from all their orifices.

It is in this way
that the so-called wonders
of the world were built,
such as railroads and high buildings.

I am an astute beggar,
who spent his life listening.
I know what I’m talking about.

From his Notebook
Tibet 1946

In Tibet
Everything that is old
Is a work of Buddha
And everything that is new
Is a work of the Devil
This is the sad tradition of our country

The World is flat
Tibet Mirror Press, 1938

In olden days,
even in Europe,
the world was thought to be flat.

And when some intelligent people
claimed the opposite,
they were exposed to various difficulties,
such as being burnt alive.

Today, even in Buddhist countries
everybody knows,
that the world is round.

However in Tibet,
we still stubbornly state
that the world is flat.

Foreword of his Kamasutra translation
Calcutta 1939

As for me
I have little shame
I love women.

Every man has a woman
Every woman has a man
Both in their mind
Desire sexual union

What chance is the for clean behaviour?
If natural passions are openly banned
Unnatural passions will grow in secrecy

No law of religion
No law of morality
Can suppress the natural passion of mankind

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Gendun Choephel’s Poems
translated by Donald Lopez Jr.
(University of Chicago Press)

Gendun Choephel, 1940’s

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

   —  

→ home
→ films
→ contact

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Data Protection Statement

Aug 29, 2011 | materials | Comments Off on · Poems Gendun Choephel – am

· Downloads – am

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Angry Monk

Downloads – Promotion

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The press kit in three languages (de, en, fr) and the film stills of “Angry Monk” can be downloaded here.

↓ Presskit (english)
↓ Presseheft (deutsch)
↓ Dossier de presse (français)

↓ Filmstills

→ Click on image
→ Image opens in browser
→ Choose «safe as»
→ Choose download location
→ Safe

Novices, Yama Tashi Kyil

Monk, Yama Tashi Kyil

On the Road, Tibet

Monk, Yama Tashi Kyil

Hindu Pilgrim, Varanasi, Indien

Filip Zumbrunn, DoP

Luc Schaedler, Director

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

   —  

→ home
→ films
→ contact

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

→ Data Protection Statement

Jun 29, 2011 | materials | Comments Off on · Downloads – am