Akong, A Remarkable Life
A film about the life of a Tibetan Lama.
A documentary by Awareness Media about the life of Chöje Akong Tulku Rinpoche. Akong Rinpoche, born in Kham in Eastern Tibet in 1941, was quickly recognized as a reincarnate Tulku and enthroned as the Abbot of Drolma Lhakhang Monastery at the age of four. In 1959, tensions between China and Tibet reached breaking point and Akong was forced to undertake a dangerous journey across the Himalayas on foot to India aged nineteen.
From the party of over two hundred Tibetans that set off, only fifteen survived the gruelling ten-month ordeal. When they reached their destination, living conditions in Buxadaur refugee camp in Assam were extremely poor. The hot climate combined with the lack of food and medicine claimed the lives of many of the surviving refugees, including Akong's elder brother, Jamyang Chogyal.
In 1963, Akong arrived in the UK with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In order to support themselves, Akong initially worked as an orderly at a hospital in Oxford. In 1967, he founded the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West - Kagyu Samye Ling in Scotland. He continued to supervise his countless projects until his death.
Through his humanitarian message of loving-kindness and compassion, Akong Rinpoche has benefitted the lives of countless people through his charity ROKPA International, which invests 100% of donations directly into humanitarian projects in Tibet, Nepal, India and Africa.
We Were Kings
A film about Burma’s lost royals.
In 1885 the British army invaded Burma and deposed its King. He died in exile, ending a thousand years of monarchy. The royal family vanished, the country was plunged into war and the longest military dictatorship of modern times began.
But after a century of silence Burma’s royals have re-emerged, and they’re on a journey to bring their family - past and present - back together. Filmed through three years of seismic change in Burma, this is the story of a family and a country emerging from darkness.
We Were Kings by Grammar Productions was premiered at the British Library in London, in partnership with the Open City Documentary Festival together with its first TV broadcast on The History Channel. It is a winner of the Whicker's World Foundation Award is broadcast Asia-wide on the Discovery Channel.