Windhorse is an American film from 1998, directed and produced by Paul Wagner, co-directed by Thupten Tsering and co-produced with Julia Elliott. The leading roles were played by Dadon, Jampa Kalsang Tamang and Richard Chang. Shot in Tibet and Nepal in 1996, the film is notable for being the first commercially released film shot on digital cameras - a prototype of the digital-beta Sony DVW-700WS and the prosumer Sony DCE-VX1000. The offline editing (Avid) and the online post and color work (Roland House / da Vinci) were also all digital. The film, transferred to 35mm negative for theatrical release, won Best U.S. Independnent Film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in March 1998, also co-winning the Best Director award. The film's international premiere was at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on September 16, 1998. The film was released theatrically in 1999 by Shadow Distribution and played in over 100 theaters in North America.

Story

The film is set in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. In a remote Himalayan village in Western Tibet, three young Tibetans - Dorjee, his sister Dolkar and their cousin Pema - witness their grandfather murdered by Chinese soldiers. Years later, the three children are living in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and their lives have taken different directions. Dolkar becomes a pop-star and assimilates into contemporary Chinese culture. Dorjee turns to hating the Chinese government. Pema becomes a Buddhist nun, joining a nunnery a few miles from Lhasa. When Pema is arrested after demonstrating against the Chinese government, her cousins are caught up in the dangerous activities of the Tibetan resistance movement.Windhorse
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Awards and nominations

References

External links

* 1998 films American historical films American war drama films 1990s war drama films 1990s historical films Tibetan-language films Films about Tibet 1998 drama films 1990s American films {{war-drama-film-stub