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The World Travel Series is sponsored by Fredonia Place as part of the Lake Shore Savings Season.
Tickets ($7.50) will be available at the door. One child 12 and under is admitted free with each adult ticket purchased.
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An up-close look at the land of Tibet and the struggle its people face as they try to preserve their culture will be presented when the World Travel Series continues on Saturday, Feb. 20 with “Tibet: A Light in the Darkness.”
Filmmaker Patricia Keith will personally narrate the film. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. in King Concert Hall at Rockefeller Arts Center.
“Tibet: A Light in the Darkness” follows Ms. Keith and her Buffalo Eddy Productions partner, Sean Cassidy, as they trek across an ancient land where the struggle to maintain culture and tradition plays out on a daily basis.
Located in Asia, north of India, Tibet is located in the world’s highest region, the Tibetan Plateau. With an average elevation of 16,000 feet, Tibet is often referred to as the “roof of the world.” It has a population of 2.62 million.
While the ancient religion of Tibet is Bön, it has been supplanted by Tibetan Buddhism, which became central to the lives of the Tibetan people.
Tibet was forever changed in 1955 when it was invaded by China. Following the Chinese occupation, almost all of Tibet’s 6,000 Buddhist temples were destroyed and an estimated one million Tibetans were tortured and killed.
The assault on Buddhism in Tibet reached a head in 1959 when the Dali Lama, believed by Buddhists to be the living incarnation of Buddha, was forced from the country into exile in India.
And while the guns and tanks are gone, the film shows that efforts to erode the Tibetan culture continues in more subtle ways.
In schools, Tibetan children are taught the Chinese view of history. In cities and villages, Tibetan structures are dismantled brick-by-brick to make way for new commercial development. The Dali Lama remains in exile and his image is banned.
The heart of the film is a look at the daily struggle the Tibetan people face as they try to preserve their culture in the face of overwhelming odds.
And yet in traveling the land, Ms. Keith and Mr. Cassidy uncovered signs of hope for the Tibetan culture.
The Buddhist monasteries, long the stronghold of Tibetan tradition, are slowly being rebuilt – in some cases by a single monk. The people continue to undertake traditional koras – religious pilgrimages – each year. There are remote mountain villages where life has yet to be altered by the Chinese incursion.
Watching craftsman labor to create Buddhist texts and images, Ms. Keith notes that the “sustaining hands of Buddha are still a strong presence throughout Tibet.”
Despite the struggles, the film shows a people who love to share smiles, laughter and songs as part of their daily lives.
“Tibet: A Light in the Darkness” also looks at Tibet from a traveler’s perspective, capturing stunning panoramas of the Himalayan Mountains, Buddhist monasteries and sacred lakes.
Ms. Keith is a college English professor and instructor of video production. She has produced a historical documentary titled “Journey to Eureka”which has been shown on Idaho Public Television and numerous public screenings in the Northwest.
Ms. Keith and Mr. Cassidy’s production company, Buffalo Eddy Productions, sponsors their camera-in-hand adventures to South America, Southeast Asia, China and Tibet and Canada from Newfoundland to the Yukon Territory and the Arctic Ocean.
Ms. Keith and Mr. Cassidy have traveled together in trucks, busses, trains, bush planes, carts, wagons, ferries, canoes, cycles, tuk-tucks, Landcruisers and a basket strung on a high wire.
