AAS Film Expo 2026

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Dreaming of Words
Thursday, March 12, 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Directed/Produced by Nandan
2021. India. 60 min.
Country/Region Featured: India
Languages: Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu with English Subtitle

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.

Njattyela Sreedharan, a fourth standard drop-out, compiles a dictionary connecting four major
Dravidian languages. Travelling across four states and doing extensive research, he spent twenty-
five years making the multilingual dictionary. This unique dictionary offers a comparative study
of Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. Dreaming of Words traces Sreedharan's life, work,
love for languages and the struggles to get the dictionary published. The film also explores the
linguistic and cultural diversity in India.

Official Film Website: https://nandan.in/films 
South Asia, India

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Nirop (Farewell)
Thursday, March 12, 11:30 am - 11:55 am
Directed by Samar Vinayak Thakur | Produced by Enable Media
2025. India. 25 min.
Country/Region Featured: India | Languages: Marathi

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.

Kalpana is a working woman who juggles her job, household chores, and caregiving duties. Her
father has come to stay with her family for the monsoon. But as the rains begin to clear and the
time for him to leave nears, Kalpana finds herself increasingly caught between her daily
obligations and fleeting moments with him.

Official Film Website:
https://www.instagram.com/niropfilm?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc 0MzIxNw== 
South Asia, India

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Soul of Solace
Thursday, March 12, 11:55 am - 12:05 pm
Directed by Debanshu Ghosh | Produced by Debanshu Ghosh and Swayam Songmen Rai
2025. India. 6 min.
Country/Region Featured: West Bengal, India | Languages: Bengali with English Subtitles

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.

This short documentary film is on a lady, Gita Saha, who has been feeding stray dogs and cats for
twenty-eight years.

Official Film Website: https://youtu.be/eGsGYUXbJRU?si=rzFgmj2tEF2H0tdd 
South Asia, West Bengal, India

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5201314: XXXX XXXX (Fourth Cut)
Thursday, March 12, 12:05 pm - 12:35 pm
Directed/Produced by Winnie W. C. Lai
2024. United States. 19 min.
Country/Region Featured: Hong Kong | Languages: Cantonese

In-person Q&A with Director Winnie W. C. Lai (Dartmouth University)

5201314: XXXX XXXX is an ethnographic video essay that examines emergent practices of self-
censorship in Hong Kong following the 2019 pro-democracy movement and the subsequent
transformation of its political and legal environment. The eight Xs signify the erasure of eight
Cantonese words from a protest slogan, while “5201314” operates as a layered sonic cipher: in
Cantonese, it closely echoes a line from the banned anthem “Glory to Hong Kong”; in Mandarin,
it resonates with the phrase “I love you forever.” This dual articulation encapsulates the affective
intensity of protest attachments to the city.

Situated within Hong Kong’s “semi-authoritarian” condition (Tai 2020) and its reconfigured
“lawscape” (LaBelle 2021), the film explores how sonic and vocal expression has become newly
politicized. Through field recordings and interviews initiated at the onset of the protests, it traces
how “situated listening” (Feld 2015) operates as an affectively charged process shaped by power,
territoriality, and the maintenance of “bodies politic” (Protevi 2009). Conceptualizing this
dynamic as political aurality, the project examines how listening mediates the material and
energetic flows of governance and resistance. Combining a written paper with a 19-minute film,
the work advances ethnographic documentary as a multimodal, decolonial archive that preserves
affective histories otherwise at risk of erasure in Hong Kong’s censored present.

Official Film Website: https://www.winniesound.info
East & Inner Asia, Hong Kong

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Give and Take
Thursday, March 12, 12:35 pm - 1:50 pm
Directed by Jimmy Lo | Produced by Jimmy Lo and Helena Wu
2025. Canada. 60 min.
Country/Region Featured: Canada, Hong Kong | Languages: Cantonese dialogue with English
and Chinese Subtitles.

In-person Q&A with Director/Producer Jimmy Lo and Producer Helena Wu

Amid the post-2019 Hong Kong exodus, a schoolteacher and an artist embark on a three-year
immigration journey to Canada, where they grapple with unforeseen psychological challenges,
putting their decision, identity, and relationship to the test in a relentless search for a place to call
home. The unspoken question – “Is it worth it?” – lingers between them, and the camera searches
for an answer.

Official Film Website: https://www.instagram.com/giveandtakefilm/ 
Distributor: Jimmy Lo | https://jimmylocm.wixsite.com/jimmylo 
East & Inner Asia, Canada, Hong Kong

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The Returning Tide, Thirty Years On
Thursday, March 12, 1:50 pm - 3:05 pm
Directed by Xiaotong Xu and Iris Yu Yang | Produced by Yuan Feng and Xiaotong Xu
2025. Hong Kong, SAR & Canada. 60 min.
Country/Region Featured: East Asia (including Japan, Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and
Taiwan) | Languages: Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, and English

In-person Q&A with Executive Producer Yuan Feng and Co-Directors Xiaotong Xu and Iris Yu
Yang

The film revisits more than twenty feminist activists from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China to trace the lasting impact of the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing across East Asia. It follows the connections forged during the conference, examines gender mainstreaming frameworks, and explores the rise of grassroots, queer movements and digital rights alongside the backlash these activists now face. Through these intertwined stories, the film continually asks what sustains such struggles and how feminist movements persist, transform, and evolve across generations and regions.

Official Film Website: https://www.thereturningtide.com/

East & Inner Asia, East Asia (including Japan, Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and
Taiwan)

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Coroner to the Stars
Thursday, March 12, 3:05 pm - 4:30 pm
Directed/Produced by Ben Hethcoat
2025. United States. 84 min.
Country/Region Featured: United States/ Japan | Languages: English

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.

Coroner to the Stars chronicles the extraordinary journey of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the former Los
Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner whose groundbreaking high-profile autopsies
of icons like Marilyn Monroe, Robert Kennedy, and Natalie Wood thrust him into the spotlight -
even as Hollywood elites and political adversaries sought to silence him - and forever shaped
American culture.

Official Film Website: https://www.coronertothestars.com/ 
Distributor: Grasshopper Film | https://store.grasshopperfilm.com/coroner-to-the-stars.html 
Northeast Asia - Japan; Asian Diaspora, United States/ Japan

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The Lama's Son
Friday, March 13, 8:30 am - 9:45 am
Directed by Kesang Tseten | Produced by Kalpa Group/KT Lama Films
2025. Nepal, Switzerland. 73 min.
Country/Region Featured: Nepal | Languages: Tibetan (Dolpo, Mustang) and Nepali

A Lama’s priestly lineage is in jeopardy because his son, a sushi chef in New York, will not
return to take over. In Mustang, people are migrating to distant places in search of better lives and
to escape the worsening environment. In Dolpo, where development hasn’t reached, another
lama performs an ancient ritual that celebrates community, supported by a unique subsistence
way of life. Then in Queens, New York, Himalayan immigrants adapt to America even as they
recreate tradition and community. Is 'Shangri-La', if it ever existed, crumbling?

Official Film Website: http://www.shunyatafilm.com 
Distributor: shunyata film production/KT Lama Films/shunyata film production | kt lama films 
South Asia, Nepal

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Our Mr. Matsura
Friday, March 13, 9:45 am - 11:40 pm
Directed/Produced by Beth Harrington
2025. US/Japan. 97 min.
Country/Region Featured: Pacific Northwest/Hirado/Tokyo/Yokohama | Languages: English and
Japanese

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.
In-person Q&A with Scholar/Film Advisor ShiPu Wang (UC Merced)

Frank Matsura, the orphaned son of a samurai, emigrated to the American West in 1901, settling
in remote Washington State. There he joined a community of Native people and newly arrived
settlers. He quickly became the region’s leading photographer and most beloved citizen. His work
which transcended the prosaic photographs typical of the times, was characterized by unusual
self-portraits and playful collaborations with his subjects. His death at age 39 was a blow to all. A
century later, the people of the county and the tribes still have pride and a sense of personal
connection to the work he created.

Official Film Website: https://ourmrmatsura.com 
Distributor: Beth Harrington | https://www.bethharrington.com 
Northeast Asia - Japan; Asian Diaspora, Pacific Northwest/Hirado/Tokyo/Yokohama

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Landscapes of Home
Friday, March 13, 11:40 am - 12:50 pm
Directed by Alice IL Shin | Produced by Eiko Kawabe Brown
2024. Canada. 55 min.
Country/Region Featured: Canada, Japan | Languages: English
Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.

In-person Q&A with Jeff Chiba Sterns and Karen Wong (Moving Images Distribution)

Landscapes of Home examines the lives of two doctors in the mid-20th century: Henry Shibata, a
Japanese-Canadian born in Vancouver, and Stuart Cooper Robinson, a Canadian born in Nagoya,
Japan. Their worlds are upended by WWII, with Shibata facing internment in the Rockies, while
Robinson is pushed from his lifelong home in Japan amidst growing intolerance. Charting their
transformative journeys, the documentary captures their resilience and the indelible marks left by
displacement. Through their stories, it reflects on the Japanese-Canadian struggle from a new
perspective and redefines what it means to find home against a backdrop of war and loss.

Official Film Website: http://aliceshin.com/landscapes-of-home/ 
Distributor: Moving Images Distribution | https://movingimages.ca/ 
Northeast Asia - Japan, Canada, Japan

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Just Being There: The Cambodian Photographs of Colin Grafton
Friday, March 13, 12:50 pm - 2:15 pm
Directed/Produced by Robert Carleton-Chhaing
2026. Cambodia/USA. 70 min.
Country/Region Featured: Cambodia | Languages: English and Khmer

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.
In-person Q&A with Director/Producer Robert Carleton-Chhaing

Just Being There follows British photographer Colin Grafton, who arrived in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, in 1973, just before the Khmer Rouge genocide, and later volunteered in refugee
camps along the Thai border. Amid civil war, he captured rare, intimate photographs of daily life,
revealing the beauty and humanity of Cambodia’s capital city. Decades later, the film revisits
these images and the people within them, offering a powerful act of remembrance. By unveiling
this unseen archive, Just Being There restores a vital piece of cultural memory, bridging loss and
survival, history and healing.

Official Film Website: http://www.akarafilms.com 
Southeast Asia, Cambodia

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Ghost Mountain: The Second Killing Fields in Cambodia
Friday, March 13, 2:15 pm - 3:10 pm
Directed/Produced by James Taing and Virginia Lynch Dean
2022. United States and Cambodia. 40 min.
Country/Region Featured: United States and Cambodia | Languages: English and Khmer

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.
In-person Q&A with Director/Producer James Taing

Ghost Mountain is the story of Bunseng Taing, a Cambodian refugee who made his way to
Connecticut in 1980 after surviving both the Killing Fields and a second horror never before
documented. He was among 45,000 refugees who managed to escape to what they believed was
safety in Thailand, only to be forced back over the Cambodian border in an area heavily infested
with landmines.

Official Film Website: https://www.pvfund.org/ghostmountain 
Southeast Asia, United States and Cambodia 

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Submerged
Friday, March 13, 3:10 pm - 3:35 pm
Directed by Iqbal Hussain | Produced by Pinky Brahma Choudhury, Shobhit Jain
2023. India. 25 min.
Country/Region Featured: India | Languages: Nimadi and Hindi

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.

Kotmir, a village in the Dharaji Panchayat, was under the submergence area of the Omkareswar
Dam but the residents refused to leave the village due to unsettled compensation packages and
were compelled to work as migrant labourers in the cities. During the country wide lockdown due
to the Covid-19 pandemic, when all the migrant labourers in the city were forced to return home,
these people faced a unique situation. They were left without any village body to address their
issue as Dharaji Panchayat was dissolved since the villages were officially 'under the
submergence area'.

Official Film Website: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BgBc-RKrUPZEAO5J4csAL-nN- JKshqO7?usp=sharing
South Asia, India

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No Ark: Contending Faith in a Changing Climate
Friday, March 13, 3:35 pm - 4:30 pm
Directed by Bratto Amin | Produced by Sudipta Roy
2024. Bangladesh. 42 min.
Country/Region Featured: Bangladesh | Languages: Bangla with English subtitles

In-person Q&A with Producer Sudipta Roy

Understanding the role of faith in climate change is crucial for developing effective and inclusive
strategies. In Bangladesh, where faith is deeply woven into the social fabric, leveraging the
influence of religious communities can enhance resilience and drive sustainable solutions. Sadly,
much of the existing literature and dialogue on climate change in Bangladesh neglects this vital
faith component. That’s where the documentary No Ark comes in. Over 14 months, an
independent filmmaker and his team dove deep into Bangladesh, interviewing over 60 people of
various faiths, attending religious festivals, and exploring the impact of climate change on
religious practices.

Official Film Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559703510859 
South Asia, Bangladesh

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Who Has Seen the Sound?
Friday, March 13, 4:30 pm - 5:05 pm
Directed by Xiaohui Liu and Siyu Piao | Produced by Xiaohui Liu
2025. China. 25 min.
Country/Region Featured: China | Languages: Chinese and English

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.
In-person Q&A with Director Xiaohui Liu (University of Texas at Austin)

In Nasoni Village, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, we created a short
documentary about the local sounds, exploring the stories related to sound in Tibetan areas and
the deep connection between Tibetans and sound. As Tibetan Buddhism suggests, sound
originates not only from the external world but also partly arises from the heart. Tibetans'
perception of sound encompasses not just what they hear, but also what they see, experience, and
feel internally. Sound constructs the life memories and worldly relationships of Tibetans in
Nasoni.

Distributor: CathyPlay | https://cathayplay.com/films/who-has-seen-the-sound/ 
East & Inner Asia, China

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Abundance: Living with a Forest
Friday, March 13, 5:05 pm - 5:30 pm
Directed/Produced by Dolly Kikon
2024. India. 22 min.
Country/Region Featured: Nagaland, India | Languages: Lotha and English

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.

Abundance: Living with a Forest is a biography of foraging, forest, and jhum cultivation. It
follows Zareno, a Lotha forager in the forest of Khumtsü, and traces the foraged edible plants as
they make their way to the market in Wokha town. The film gestures to an impending loss that
Indigenous communities encounter across the world. Abundance: Living with a Forest presents
Indigenous foraging practice in the Eastern Himalayan region, and the commitment of foragers
and community members to work towards renewal of Indigenous values, courage, and sustainable
practice.

Official Film Website: https://dollykikon.com/projects/abundance-living-with-a-forest/ 
South Asia, Nagaland, India

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The Ozu Diaries (Sneak Peek)
Saturday, March 14, 8:30 am - 10:50 pm
Directed by Daniel Raim | Produced by Yuki Machida, Daniel Raim
2025. USA. 140 min.
Country/Region Featured: Japan | Languages: Japanese and English

In-person Q&A with David Averbach (The Film Collaborative)

The Ozu Diaries, directed by Academy-Award-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim, is a cinematic
journey that explores the inner world of Japanese master filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu, drawing from
his private diaries, wartime notebooks, letters, interviews, photographs, and never-before-seen
home movies. Through Ozu’s own words, combined with reflections from Kyoko Kagawa, Wim
Wenders, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Tsai Ming-liang, and Luc Dardenne, the film traces how Ozu
transformed personal loss and wartime trauma into enduring masterpieces such as Early Summer,
Tokyo Story, and An Autumn Afternoon.

Official Film Website: https://danielraim.com/the-ozu-diaries 
Distributor: The Film Collaborative | https://thefilmcollaborative.org/films/theozudiaries 
Northeast Asia - Japan, Japan

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Késheng ja waray batbat. The exhumation of human bones in an Ibaloi community
Saturday, March 14, 10:50 am - 12:20 pm
Directed/Produced by Antoine Laugrand, Frédéric Laugrand, Jazil Tamang, and Gliseria
Magapin
2019. Philippines. 73 min.
Country/Region Featured: Philippines | Languages: Ibaloi and English

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.
In-person Q&A with Antoine Laugrand, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Ottawa

Filmed in the Ibaloi village of Shinayngan, Késheng ja waray batbat portrays a three-day ritual of
exhumation and reburial performed to restore harmony between the living and the dead. Shot by
Gliseria Magapin and Jazil Tamang, the film follows a family who, after dreams and illness,
consult a mambonong and learn that a son’s damp tomb and incomplete burial rites caused
misfortune. Through divination, offerings, dances, and feasts, the ritual reestablishes balance.
Blending local authorship and ethnographic collaboration, the film offers a sensory immersion
into Ibaloi cosmology and the enduring care that binds generations.

Official Film Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFUS9aSpgjw 
Southeast Asia, Philippines

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Ingatan dari Timor (Memories of Timor)
Saturday, March 14, 12:20 pm - 1:45 pm
Directed by Ari Trismana | Produced by Rita Padawangi
2025. Indonesia and Timor-Leste. 70 min.
Country/Region Featured: Timor-Leste and Indonesia, Southeast Asia | Languages: Indonesian,
Tetun, and English

In-person Q&A with Producer Rita Padawangi (Singapore University of Social Sciences)

An Indonesian student’s capstone research project turned into a journey of a lifetime, as she
explored the dark history of Timor-Leste that she had not seen before in textbooks. From visits to
torture chambers to meeting the young generation of Timor-Leste, this film chronicles the effort
to unearth memories. Not for revenge, but to prevent similar tragedies from reoccurring.

Official Film Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIE3tSX88ug&t=6s 
Distributor: Watchdoc Media Mandiri | https://watchdoc.co.id/ 
Southeast Asia, Timor-Leste and Indonesia, Southeast Asia

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Hikayatussistance
Saturday, March 14, 1:45 pm - 2:05 pm
Directed by Muhammad Hendri | Produced by Muhammad Maulana
2025. Indonesia. 19 min.
Country/Region Featured: Indonesia | Languages: Indonesian and Acehnese with English
subtitles.

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.

In a crimson space, Fuadi Klayu, an Acehnese oral storyteller, performs Dongeng Sebelum Gulita
(Tales Before Darkness), a hikayat that tells the story of a fertile land now on the brink of
destruction.

Official Film Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX2TAbVjB40 
Distributor: acehmenonton | www.youtube.com/@acehmenonton
Southeast Asia, Indonesia

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Left Behind
Saturday, March 14, 2:05 pm - 2:25 pm
Directed/Produced by Taen Bounthapanya
2025. USA. 7 min.
Country/Region Featured: Laos | Languages: Lao and English

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.
In-person Q&A with Writer/Director Taen Bounthapanya

Laos became the most heavily bombed country in modern history after the United States dropped
approximately 2 million tons of bombs from 1964 to 1973. Millions of the bombs, unfortunately,
remain embedded in the country's lands and fields as unexploded ordinance, commonly known as
"bombies." The legacy of the U.S. involvement in Laos during the U.S.-Vietnam War leave
behind scars that remain visible today. Individual stories often get lost in the larger narrative of
war, but this creative documentary short film shows the human story that echoes the legacy of
bombies left behind.

Official Film Website: https://youtu.be/tUSyxbRK1jo 
Southeast Asia, Laos

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All Static & Noise
Saturday, March 14, 2:25 pm – 4:25 pm
Directed by David Novack | Produced by Janice Englehart
2023. USA. 103 min.
Country/Region Featured: China, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, France, Norway, US | Languages:
Mandarin Chinese, Uyghur, Kazakh

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.
In-person Q&A with Scholar Victoria Hui (University of Notre Dame)

Jewher, daughter of Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, lands in the US after she is separated from her
father at the Beijing airport as he is detained. Abduweli, a linguist and poet imprisoned and
tortured for teaching Uyghur language to 6-year-olds, makes his way to Istanbul upon his release.
Together, they join survivors of China’s network of "re-education camps" and their families, in
Turkey, Kazakhstan, Europe and the United States to expose atrocities unfolding in their
homeland with the hope that global awareness will bring change.

Official Film Website: https://www.allstaticandnoise.com/ 
Distributor: Journeyman Pictures | https://www.journeyman.tv/film/8540 
East & Inner Asia; Asian Diaspora, China, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, France, Norway, US

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Songs of Love from Hawai‘i
Saturday, March 14, 4:25 pm – 5:45 pm
Directed by Jinyoung Lee | Produced by Jinyoung Lee, T.S. Choi
2025. United States. 62 min.
Country/Region Featured: HI | Languages: English and Korean

Also available for virtual on-demand viewing. Register at the Film Expo desk.
In-person Q&A with Director/Writer/Executive Producer Jinyoung Lee

Airing on PBS and earning a 97% rating during its 16-week theatrical run in South Korea, this
beautifully moving film unveils Hawai‘i’s untold stories. Blending history, music, and the
immigrant experience, it tells three distinct stories featuring extraordinary performances by
world-class musicians.

Official Film Website: https://www.therainbowwords.com/songs-of-love 
Distributor: Collective Eye Films | https://www.collectiveeye.org/products/songs-of-love-from-hawaii
Northeast Asia - Korea, Hawai‘i

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MOLA - A Tibetan Tale of Love and Loss
Saturday, March 14, 5:45 pm - 7:25 pm
Directed by Yangzom Brauen and Martin Brauen | Produced by Martin Brauen, Yangzom
Brauen, Sonam Dolma Brauen, Jim Haygood, Samir Samperisi, Katherine LeBlond, and Daniel
Stanca-di Marco
2025. Switzerland, USA. 84 min.
Country/Region Featured: Tibet, Switzerland | Languages: Tibetan and Swiss German

In-person Q&A with Co-Director Martin Brauen

After nearly 60 years in exile, 100-year-old Tibetan nun Kunsang Wangmo - known as “Mola”
(grandmother) - dreams of returning home to die in Tibet. As her family in Switzerland navigates
the complex visa process, they document their final days together. When permission is finally
granted, Mola returns to Tibet but her journey is far from over. As unexpected events unfold, the
question remains: will Mola be allowed to stay in the homeland she never stopped longing for?

Official Film Website: https://www.molafilm.com 
Distributor: Journeyman Pictures | https://www.journeyman.tv  | bookings@journeyman.tv 
East & Inner Asia, Tibet, Switzerland