Orphans of Tibet (2009) dir. Julie Capel

Each year, groups of Tibetan children secretly flee their homeland over the Himalayas to reach schools in India founded by the government in exile. Entrusted to smugglers, they are risking their lives by illegally crossing the great Himalayan range, a towering rampart between Tibet and India. The director takes us into the Mussorie school, in North India, where 2,400 children have been rescued. They have left behind their family and childhood and are now considered orphans. We are introduced to Sonam, aged nine, and Dholma, the new, little girl at school. In India, they are taught about Tibetan culture and the history of their country and their ancestors. Sonam and Dholma’s story is that of thousands of Tibetan children. Are they orphans of a lost country or bearers of hope who will save an endangered culture?