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Trials of Telo Rinpoche
(1994, 50 mins, 16mm)
camera: Wayne Derrick
sound: David Goodale
editor: Paul Shepard
produced and directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam
a White Crane Films Production for BBC Television
Telo Rinpoche, a.k.a. Eddie Ombadykow,
is a 21-year-old American whose favourite band is The Smashing Pumpkins.
He is also a Buddhist monk who was brought up in a Tibetan monastery in
India and recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as a high reincarnate
lama. Now, he finds himself in his ancestral homeland, Kalmykia, a remote
Buddhist republic in southern Russia, where he is revered by the people
as their spiritual leader and charged with the responsibility of reviving
Buddhism. The Trials of Telo Rinpoche is the poignant story of his
efforts to come to terms with his own unusual destiny while struggling
to fulfill the expectations thrust upon him by his family and by the people
of Kalmykia who see him as their Messiah.
Broadcasts:
BBC (UK), ABC (Australia), Vision TV (Canada),
Faith & Values (USA), People & Arts (Latin America),
People & Arts (Iberia)
Film Festivals:
2000 Association for Asian Studies Conference, San Diego
1995 Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York
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