About

photo courtesy: Tashi Topgyal

White Crane Films was started in 1991 by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam.

Ritu was born in New Delhi. After graduating from Miranda House, Delhi University, she did her MFA in film and video from the California College of Arts.

Tenzing was born in Darjeeling to Tibetan refugee parents. He graduated from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and then studied broadcast journalism at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Working through White Crane Films, they have made more than 20 documentaries, several video installations and two dramatic features. A recurring subject in their work is the issue of Tibet, with which they have been intimately involved: personally, politically and artistically. Through their films, they have attempted to document, question and reflect on the questions of exile, identity, culture and nationalism that confront the Tibetan people. Another concern is the transformation and transmutation of societies
 through globalisation.

They are the directors of the Dharamshala International Film Festival, one of India’s leading independent film festivals, which they founded in 2012.

They are based in Dharamshala and New Delhi.