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Tibet groups call on Nepalese film festival to cancel Xizang Panorama
“Xizang Panorama” is a program under KIMFF’s international category, featuring a selection of six short films, each approximately 15 minutes long. The country of origin listed for all the films is China
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A coalition of 145 global Tibet-related organisations have called on the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) to cancel “Xizang Panorama” immediately, which they claim is China’s “propaganda”.
“Xizang Panorama” is a program under KIMFF’s international category, featuring a selection of six short films, each approximately 15 minutes long. The country of origin listed for all the films is China.
The organisations have maintained that KIMFF’s “Xizang Panorama” wrongly refers to Tibet with the name “Xizang” which they said is a term that the Chinese government is promoting as a tool of imperial erasure and its use undermines the distinct historical and cultural identity of Tibet.
Kathmandu is hosting the 22nd edition of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), from May 28 to June 1. The Dharamshala-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in the past also opposed the usage of ‘Xizang’ instead of Tibet – calling it Chinese propaganda.
“The programme – Xizang Panorama – is not only inaccurately named ‘Xizang’, but it also features propaganda films that showcase China’s false narrative about the situation in Tibet. One such is ‘Life of Buda’ which promotes China’s false narrative of the occupation of Tibet as a ‘peaceful liberation’ ,the organisations said in a statement.
The organisations include India Tibet Friendship Society, Students for a Free Tibet, The Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities, US Tibet Committee, V-TAG United Kingdom, Tibetan Women’s Association among others.
“Xizang Panorama” does not simply feature films about Tibet; it is rather a showcase of weaponised storytelling by China to further oppress Tibetans and erase their history. By giving a platform for China’s propaganda, KIMFF is actively endorsing, normalising and justifying the Chinese government’s ongoing cultural genocide in Tibet,” they said, calling on the KIMFF to immediately cancel the “Xizang Panorama” programme and film screenings.
Meanwhile, Dharamshala based Tibetan writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue said that it is unfortunate that a select group of Nepalese politicians are allowing the sacred land of Nepal for Chinese propaganda on Tibet. “This is never the wish of the Nepalese people who are like brothers and sisters to the Tibetans inside Tibet, suffering under Chinese communist dictatorship. In the 7th century, Nepalese princess Bhrikuti Devi was offered as queen to emperor Songtsen Gampo of Tibet, not Xizang. Tibet may be under foreign occupation today, but tomorrow, when we re-established the entire country of 2.5 million km of land as Tibet, with what face will Nepal face the Dalai Lama?” he said.
