Tibet in Exile: The Untold Story of the People of Dharamsala

Most stories begin with a birth. This one begins with a disappearance.

Overnight, a nation was absorbed by an empire far beyond its borders. In 1959, a young monk disguised himself as a soldier and vanished into the night, crossing the Himalayas with nothing but the weight of a nation on his back. That man was the Dalai Lama.

I traveled to Dharamshala, the "Little Lhasa" in India, to meet the people who refused to disappear. I expected to find anger. Instead, I found a community that has turned exile into an art form.

From the thunderous debates of the monks at Gyuto Monastery to a private audience with His Holiness himself, this film is about what happens when you lose your home, but find your soul.

In this cinematic documentary:

The Escape: How the 14th Dalai Lama fled Lhasa in 1959 to save his people's culture.
The Resistance: Inside the "Debate Courtyards" where monks use logic as a weapon against erasure.
The Meeting: My private blessing with His Holiness, and the unexpected answer he gave me about "home."
The Lesson: Why enlightenment isn't a destination, but a "turning" of the mind.
The mountain remembers, even if the map forgets.

📍 Location: Dharamshala & McLeod Ganj, India.

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#FreeTibet #DalaiLama #Dharamshala #Buddhism #Exile #Documentary #AfroxBuddha #History #Spirituality #IndiaTravel #Dharamshala #TibetanBuddhism #india

🕊️ This film is dedicated to those who lost their homeland, but never their spirit.


Camera: Afro x Buddha and Vishan Singh


Archival Footage Source:
“The OSS and the Dalai Lama” – National Archives Blog
Original film footage by Brooke Dolan, U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS), 1942–1945
Public Domain – National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Accessed via: https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2...

“Inside Tibet” (Motion Picture 226.5; ca. 1942–ca. 1945)
Office of Strategic Services (OSS), National Archives Record Group 226
National Archives at College Park (NARA) → Public Domain
Online access via DocsTeach, National Archives Identifier: 40103

“VOA Dalai Lama Interview Part 1” – Voice of America Mandarin Service, July 21 2011
Public Domain – U.S. Government (Voice of America)
Original accessible via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 3.0

“Tibetan Culture & Activism — SF Bay Area Tibetan Community, 1995‑2013”
TibetanVideoProject / Barbara Green (uploader)
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Original available via Wikimedia Commons: File:Tibetan_Culture_&_Activism‑SF_Bay_Area_Tibetan_Community,1995‑2013.webm

🎥 2. Fifteen Minutes in India (National Archives / CIA, 1947–1981)
Description: Travelogue-style footage including Indian culture scenes and a recorded interview with the Dalai Lama.
License: U.S. Government–produced, so public domain.
Access: Look up film ARC 1936944 on Internet Archive’s National Archives collection
Internet Archive
📩 Disclaimer:
Every effort has been made to properly credit all archival footage, audio, and imagery used in this documentary. If we have unintentionally missed any required attribution or miscredited any material, please contact us directly — we will respectfully review and update the credits immediately.