Dalai Lama interview on World Travel Series

Filmmaker Rick Ray will screen and discuss his award-winning documentary “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” at the State University of New York at Fredonia on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in King Concert Hall.

“10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” is the first event in the 2006-2007 World Travel Series at Rockefeller Arts Center. The series is sponsored by TLC Health Network.

Tickets for “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” will be available at the door on the night of the event. One child 12 or younger will be admitted free with each adult ticket purchase.

“10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” has garnered international attention for Mr. Ray, a writer, director and cinematographer with 12 travel films to his credit. “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” was a Humanitarian Award Winner at the 2006 Moondance International Film Festival in Hollywood and is an official selection of the Australian International Film Festival, the Globians Film Festival in Potsdam, Germany, HatchFest in Bozeman, Montana, the Amnesty International Film Festival in Vancouver and the Tahoe-Reno International Film Festival.

The original score for “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” was composed by two-time Grammy nominee Peter Kater and will be distributed by Silverwave Records in October. A theatrical release of the film is also planned.

Mr. Ray conceived “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” during a visit to northern India in 2001. On location to film a different documentary, Mr. Ray requested – and, to his surprise, received – an audience with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and the spiritual and political leader of Tibet. Mr. Ray was given one stipulation for the hour-long interview: he was required to submit a list of questions prior to the meeting.

Faced with this task, Mr. Ray considered the different types of questions he could pose to one of the world’s most revered holy men. He finally decided to go with his heart and ask 10 questions that applied directly to his own life – and found, in the process, that many of the questions that dealt specifically with his own personal journey could also apply to other people, political situations and world events.

“10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” includes an in-depth look at the life of the Dalai Lama and the struggle of the Tibetan people, including rare footage of the Dalai Lama as a youngster and images smuggled from Chinese prison camps in the subjugated nation. The film also captures colorful images of a Tibetan festival in the Indian city of Dharamsala, home of the Tibetan government-in-exile, as well as clips of Mr. Ray’s interview with the Dalai Lama.

Mr. Ray is the founder of two stock footage libraries and is currently a professor of documentary film at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, Calif.