The Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche
by Ritu Sarin & Tenzin Sonam
Documentary 1991
Choenzey is a 47-year old monk living in a Tibetan refugee monastery in South India. His spiritual master, Khensur Rinpoche, a revered high lama, has been dead for four years. According to Tibetan belief, he will soon be reincarnated. It is Choenzey's responsibility, as his closest disciple, to find the reincarnation and to look after him. The film follows Choenzey's search and his eventual discovery of an impish but gentle 4-year-old boy who is recognized by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan State Oracle to be the reincarnation. Without sentimentality, the film captures the moving relationship that develops between the erstwhile disciple and his young master.
Reviews & Comments:
"Before the shooting of Little Buddha, I saw a movie called The Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche, directed by Tenzin Sonam & Ritu Sarin, a beautiful documentary about a monk who goes to Tibet, smuggles a child out of Tibet, takes him to the Dalai Lama and the oracle, and is told:'Yes, this is the reincarnation of your master'."
~ Bernardo Bertolucci, Sight and Sound
"What makes this film so compelling is that as much as it's a poignant document of the Tibetan diaspora, it's also a portrait of fatherhood. . "
~ The Village Voice, New York
"While researching her project (My Reincarnation) through other films, Jennifer looked for films about Tibetan Buddhism (of which there are few) as well as other films from around the world with similar themes. Here Jennifer gives us a view into what films helped shaped her own and why:
'The Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche (Dir. Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam)
This film, by the wonderful filmmaking couple Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam made in 1992, was simply for many years the best and only film about Tibetan Buddhism that followed a real narrative. What I was looking for in my work was how to show spirituality in action. This film successfully followed the Attendant of a recently deceased Buddhist Master, as he searches for his Teacher’s reincarnation. He finds a young boy in Tibet and brings him back to H. H. the Dalai Lama to approve through a ritual with the Tibetan Oracle. What I love in this film is that the words “devotion” and “faith” actually show on the Attendant’s face and in his journey. The saying in fiction films that “Character is action” is true of human life, and this film really portrays the character of the monk through his action.'"
~ Five Films That Inspired Jennifer Fox’s My Reincarnation - Film Independent
"I saw this documentary many years ago on TV and recorded it to VHS. For many years I assumed it was not available elsewhere, but I never forgot the huge impact it made on me. Now it is a pleasure to share it again here, where it belongs. I suspect it was the first film of this type in the west."
~ Uploader
There is a follow-up film about this called "The Thread of Karma" 2007
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/tibetfilms/tibetinharlem1/html/pr...
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search for Wheaten to see my other uploads MsSVig