Fate of the Lhapa occurs in four chapters. Each man’s life as a lhapa has four stages. This corresponds to the four main components of a healing ceremony. Visual images of each ceremony component will introduce the viewer to the corresponding stage of the men’s lives as lhapas. Fate of the Lhapa also looks at the lhapas lives through three contexts: Their daily life in exile in the Tibetan refugee camp, their roles as seasoned healers, and the possible disappearance of “sucking doctors” in the Tibetan culture. At their request, they are telling the story of being a Lhapa as if the next heir was sitting at their feet listening to their grandfathers. The refugee camp sits at the base of the Annapurna range of the Himalayan Mountains, in the shadow of Macchapuchre, a mountain considered sacred to both the Tibetan and Nepali people. The beauty of the Nepali countryside and the scope and pageantry of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions will appear throughout the film. Images will include the ornate icons and thanka paintings of the camp’s monastery, the costumes and paraphernalia of healing ceremonies wherein the lhapas become possessed by deities in order the suck the illness out of the patient, and footage of the Tibetan men and women of the camp struggling to maintain their culture in the midst of poverty, oppression, and exile.
The three lhapas tell their stories of childhood in Tibet, spontaneous initiations as thirteen year olds, apprenticeship and shamanic training with senior lhapas, escape through the Himalayan Mountains to Nepal, their perspectives as aged healers coming to the end of their lives and the possibility that they are the last of their kind. The ordinary daily existence of the lhapas lives will be contrasted with the mystique of the healing ceremonies. Viewers will witness Tibetan lives in exile, from the mundane to the spiritual. Subtitles will be used. The video was shot in Tibet and Nepal.
Background: The three Lhapas were born in Tibet into a lineage of shamans. At the age of thirteen each experienced a psychotic break and was taken before a Buddhist Lama who determined that each boy’s visionary encounter was the needed marker indicating their fate as a lhapa. The boys embarked on a series of pilgrimages to holy sights under the guidance of a senior lhapa. As China invaded Tibet in the late 1950s the then young men escaped over the Himalayan Mountains and settled in a refugee camp in Nepal.
Lhapas are “sucking doctors” who heal by extracting poisons, polluted substances, and other objects from their patients’ bodies. They use ram’s horn, drums and red cloth to suck the illness out of the body. They then spit the objects out so that the patients can see their illness. These items have included pieces of putrid meat, globs of black tar, coins, blood, balls of hair, small stones, or clear liquid that contains visibly moving bacteria. Once observed, the Lhapa swallows the illness. Lhapas are a form of Tibetan oracle that has the ability to temporarily embody deities in order to perform shamanic healing and divination work. Unlike the renowned Nechung oracle or other oracle-priests that primarily serve monastic orders, these Lhapas hold healing sessions in their homes or in the homes of the patient to help ordinary people who are ill.
The refugee camp is located ten miles outside of Pokhara Nepal. It is a bleak encampment reminiscent of the squalor of the United State’s Native American reservations. A Buddhist Monastery lies at the center of the camp and is relatively opulent compared to the one-room hovels that house the Tibetan people. The refugees scratch out a living by processing wool for use in Tibetan carpets and by selling Tibetan paraphernalia in the stalls that line the camp to attract tourists. Due to a ten year violent conflict between the Maoists and the Nepali government, tourism has diminished to such a degree that it is no longer a viable source of income.
Need: There are several factors that make the timing of this project important. First, the Lhapas are now quite old and with the onset of old age; they are physically not as able to perform the strenuous healing ceremonies. Second, this Lhapa tradition is passed down genetically through the maternal bloodline to male heirs as they enter puberty. No sons, grandsons, nephews, nor great-nephews experienced the visions that would have marked their fate as a lhapa. This means that at the time of these three Lhapa’s death, there will cease to be a practicing Lhapa in Nepal. Third, the Tibetan refugees in Nepal are succumbing to modernization and Western acculturation. The younger generation is in the process of migrating out of the camps, and out of the old ways. In an attempt to be “modern” the younger generation is shedding their traditional dress and customs in exchange for Western ways.
Status of Project
Fate of the Lhapa has now been completed. It premiered in June 2007 at the Maui Film Festival. From there it traveled to the Woods Hole Film Festival (August 2007) where it was picked up for distribution by Documentary Educational Resources, then to the Moondance International Film Festival (September 2007) where it won the Seahorse Award for best music in a documentary, then on to the Park City Film Music Festival (January 2008) where it won the Gold Medal for best musical score in a documentary and then to Australia where it screened at the Byron Bay Film Festival (March 2008). Check back to see if it will show up in a film festival near you.
Director's Filmography
Sarah C. Sifers, Ph.D. served as the producer, director, cinematographer, sound person,
and writer for this production. She is a licensed psychotherapist and world-renowned scholar
who has conducted ethnographic fieldwork with shamans in Siberia, Brazil, Nepal and the
Navajo Reservation in Arizona. She brings to the project advanced knowledge, research and
experience on both Tibetan and Nepali shamanism and culture. During the past eight years,
she has spent extensive time in Nepal researching and documenting the work of Tibetan
and Nepali shamans. She has written articles for academic journals about her experiences
in Nepal. Fate of the Lhapa is her first documentary. Sarah is currently working
as cinematographer on Jenny MacKenzie’s documentary Kick Like A Girl.
She also traveled to Dharamsala India in March to film a special long life offering ceremony
for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
In the fall of 2000, Sarah embarked on an adventure that took her to a Tibetan Refugee Camp in Pokhara Nepal. She traveled in pursuit of a dream. The previous year, Sarah was part of a group that traveled to Pokhara from Kathmandu to spend several days with then 84 year old Tibetan healer Pau Karma Wangchuk. The group spent their time with Pau Wangchuk asking him questions and observing him as he performed healings and divinations on the group’s behalf. There was an air of sadness about him. He conveyed to the group the news that his son (and apprentice) had died unexpectedly that summer. With the passing of his son, Pau Wangchuk’s knowledge was sentenced to its own death at the time of his passing. As the group queried Pau Wangchuk about his shamanic practice, spontaneous initiation at the age of 13, his subsequent apprenticeship, and escape from Tibet into Nepal, he kept responding, ‘someone needs to be recording this’, ‘someone needs to be getting this down.’ And Sarah knew in that time and place that she could do that for him. She could return to Pokhara Nepal and record Wangchuk’s story. And so she did. During the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, Sarah hung out at the House of Docs and asked as many questions as she could about equipment. Based on that information, she purchased a Canon XL1, Sure field mixer, wireless and shotgun microphones, cables, minidv tapes, a tripod, and headphones. She spent the next eight months learning how to use the equipment. She went on commercial shoots in the Salt Lake City area and picked the brains of any camera and sound person she could find. She then returned to the Tibetan refugee camp in Nepal in September of 2000.
What Sarah encountered far surpassed her expectations. Not only was she able to record Wangchuk’s story and healing ceremonies but discovered Pau Pasang Rhichoe and Pau Nyima Dhondup, two other old Tibetan shamans confronting the same extinction of their ancient family tradition. She has come to know and cherish these three old men. She’s been taken into their families and granted unprecedented access. Over the course of six visits, Sarah has recorded over 300 hours of footage. She was granted fiscal sponsorship by The International Documentary Association. Then, in Salt Lake City, she formed Indigenous Lenses, a 501(c)3 non-profit production company to support this documentary project. Sarah located a local Tibetan man and together they translated and transcribed all of the interviews and ceremonies. From those transcripts, Sarah pulled out a script and created a sequence list for editing. Sarah initially tried to edit the documentary herself. And as much as she would have loved to piece the story together by herself, she found that editing was not her forte. She interviewed many local Salt Lake editors, watched sample reels and found Genea Gaudet. Using Final Cut Pro, Genea pieced together a two minute and an eight minute fundraising trailer and during the summer of 2005, Sarah and Genea created a rough cut of the doc. She hosted focus groups and took their comments back to the editing studio and locked the picture. Sarah continues to hang out at the Filmmaker’s Lodge each year during the Sundance Film Festival, networking with producers, directors, editors and composers. Throughout this amazing process, she continues to meet many generous people who are willing to share their time and expertise. The project seems to have a life of its own.
Filmographies of Key Personnel
Editor
Genéa Gaudet has been a professional editor and filmmaker for seven years. She earned a Masters in Film Studies from the University of Utah. She had worked as an assistant editor and post-production supervisor on the feature film Jumping for Joy 2002) and as an editor on the re-releases of the films Just in Time, The Paper Brigade, and Rossini’s Visitor. Her commercial work includes editing several movie trailers for the independent film company, Feature Films for Families, as well as local television spots. As an instructor, Ms. Gaudet has taught several film classes for Salt Lake Community College. Ms Gaudet currently works for Metropolis Integrated Media in Salt Lake City. She was the editor for Paul Larsen’s documentary To Be or Not to Be. In 2004, Ms Gaudet started Girlfilm Productions. Her current projects include directing a feature-length documentary about the working poor, called Minimum Wage and a PBS film called Reserved to Fight.
Composer
William Susman (www.susmanmusic.com) brings to film scoring a diversity and depth of work. An award-winning composer with international recognition, his roots are in two powerful musical traditions -- the rigor and formal training of classical music and the improvisational freedom of jazz. He scored the multi award-winning film Native New Yorker WINNER Best Documentary Short at Tribeca 2006, Moondance and Park City Film Music Festivals. He also scored the controversial feature documentary Oil on Ice (PBS and Warner Home Video) winning numerous awards including the 20th annual International Documentary Association's Pare Lorentz. Susman’s music integrates diverse influences spanning western classical, jazz and world traditions to science and numerology. Some of the world's greatest soloists such as Joan Jeanrenaud (Kronos), Joseph Gramley (Silk Road Ensemble), and David Holzman (2003 Grammy nominee) perform and record his award-winning film scores and concert works. He has received numerous honors, awards, and commissions for his music including ASCAP Grants to Composers, ASCAP Raymond Hubbell Award, ASCAP Standard Awards, BMI Young Composers Award, Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard, Gaudeamus International Musicweek Percussive Arts Society, and KUCYNA/ALEA III International Composers Competition.
Audio Engineer
Ken Kruckenberg is an accomplished musician, composer, producer and engineer whose professional career spans 32 years. He has performed as a keyboardist in rock, disco, techno, jazz, R&B and country bands. He plays piano, organ, electronic keyboards, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, and electronic percussion. He has been a composer and engineer on many award-winning television, radio and musical productions.
In 1980, Ken set up a project studio in his home. During this time, he supported himself by playing in popular musical groups and recording music for local artists.
In 1989, Ken went to work as house composer at WT Studios...a respected recording studio specializing in radio and television advertising. In 1991, with his help, WT became one of the first studios in Utah to offer an all-digital recording environment. Ken continues to compose and record jingles, film and video scores, music beds for radio and TV, and music for multimedia. His personal studio is state of the art, with all the newest computer hardware and software. He uses the electronic keyboards and computers in this studio as a "virtual orchestra" to create complete compositions. He is expert at many different musical styles.
With tens of thousands of hours of recording expertise to his credit, Ken is also one of the finest dialog and sound effects editors around. He has engineered and produced many award-winning radio commercials, and has many loyal clients. He is also skilled at "sweetening", a process where different sound elements are combined with video or film to enhance the finished production. He loves to create new and unique sound effects.
