November 11, 2014—Review by Joe Bendel [j.b. spins] For ten years and counting, second and even third generation exiles have competed in a beauty pageant to represent a country they have never lived in. That nation is Tibet, still held captive by their Chinese Communist occupiers. Obviously, this is no ordinary beauty contest. While their… Continue Reading
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Norah Shapiro’s moving coming of age documentary “MISS TIBET: Beauty In Exile” has World premiere at the forthcoming DOC NYC 2014
November 7, 2014—Festival Release published by Bruno Chatelin [FILM FESTIVALS.COM] Taking place in the epicenter of the exiled Tibetan community, film follows a Tibetan-American teenager who travels to India to participate in a beauty pageant with a difference.
2014 DOC NYC in Focus: International Perspectives
October 30, 2014 — Highlight by Basil Tsoikis [what(not) to doc]
Meet the new Miss Tibet
January 28, 2011—ALLIE SHAH [Star Tribune] With her dazzling smile and killer bone structure, it’s easy to picture Tenzin Khecheo, of Minneapolis, as a beauty queen. But Miss Tibet? The 19-year old college student was just crowned Miss Tibet North America 2011, besting six others in the inaugural contest held in New York City.
High in the Indian Himalayan epicenter of the exiled Tibetan world, a maverick impresario stages a most un-Tibetan spectacle: a western-style beauty pageant. When a Tibetan-American teenager travels to India to participate in this “pageant with a difference,” she is forced to confront the intersection between her cultural identity and her life in the western world.
“Miss Tibet offers a unique roots-finding story that offers insight into the translation of tradition and cultural identity, a beautiful, but precarious balance.”—Bust Magazine
“A moving coming of age documentary” —Film Festivals.com
"This film is not just about a beauty pageant or the flamboyant Lobsang Wangyal's vision, but rather a candid exposure to the very fiber of Tibetan history, culture, religion, identity—it is a stealth activist film using a pageant ramp.
The film follows the beautiful Tenzin Khecheo examining her own growth and understanding of being a Tibetan while busy assimilating in the American culture. Tracing her personal victories and the powerful women she is today.” —Jigme Ugen, President, Tibetan National Congress
“...a film ostensibly about a beauty pageant, but truly about so much more--personal journeys, cultural identity, and the political struggle of a nation” —Carole McGranahan, University Colorado, Boulder
“[a]n incisive portrait of a younger generation of Tibetan exiles who long to embrace their ethnic identity and raise their voices in political activism, even if it means traversing a catwalk or two along the way.” —The Hollywood Reporter
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