Because of the fear of retribution from the Chinese, the identity of many of the actors cannot be made public. Wagner said the Tibetans who worked inside Tibet and Nepal were truly courageous. When you see our actors, and of course they're not actors but real people, crying in scenes, they were really crying about the real issues that the film was addressing, Wagner said. One of the most touching scenes in the film has to do with the Chinese edict that bans the displaying of photographs of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.Įxcept for a few, all the actors in the film are Tibetans who, with no prior acting experience, gave moving from-the-heart performances. The script, written by Wagner, Julia Elliott and Tibetan exile Thupten Tsering, is based on actual events and circumstances in contemporary Tibet. The images we would get would be of a high enough quality that we could blow them up to 35 millimeter, and that's what we did. We figured we could get it into Tibet by posing as tourists. We saw that as the perfect tool, because it looks like, and is, a tourist camera. Luckily, the technological cutting edge was just at the right place, because a new generation of what are called digital video cameras were just coming out in 1996. Evervigilant Chinese communist secret police made this a risky endeavor.įrom the very beginning, we talked about taking a camera into Tibet. In order to capture the true emotions and color of the country, much of the film was shot clandestinely on location in Tibet and Nepal. Windhorse tells the story of three young Tibetans who have to struggle with personal and political problems that result from the communist takeover. Windhorse opened its national theatrical run in Charlottesville on November 6. There were tons and tons of things that happened during the project that we laugh about, cry about, can't believe and still shake our heads at. I can't tell you how many times I got tears in my eyes during the editing process when I would see that scene and remember that moment. That final shot of all the windhorses against the blue sky begins and ends the film. The cameraman improvised beautifully and slowly tilted down until he came to rest framing a Himalayan peak. The camera was still rolling, so we just swung it around and everybody jumped out of the way, said Wagner, who directed and produced the film.
As their name implies, the windhorses were riding the air currents up toward the heavens. What they saw was a spiraling vortex of wind seize the scraps of colored paper and funnel them up into the sky, creating a swirling kaleidoscope effect. We were just finishing that shot when people pointed at something behind us and started yelling, Oh my god, oh my god, look at that!' Windhorses are little pieces of paper with prayers written on them that Tibetan people throw into the wind as offerings to their gods. We were filming close-ups of two of the main characters in the film throwing windhorses into the air, Wagner said. Fortunately, providence seemed to take a special interest in the making of the dramatic film that tells the stoiy of three young Tibetan living under the Chinese communist regime in contemporary Tibet. The Oscar-winning director's most recent film, Windhorse, required both luck and answered prayers. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.įilm maker Paul Wagner knows all too well, when it comes to making independent movies, a little celestial intervention can go a long way. The following article is from the Winter, 1999 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only.
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