Welcome to the 2025 Tricycle Film Festival! From March 14-27, you can access all five feature length films and five short films, plus join us for a live event on Zoom with Ed Bastian, director of The Dalai Lama’s Gift, and scholars José Ignacio Cabezón, Roger R. Jackson, and Vesna A. Wallace on Sunday, March 23 at 11 a.m. ET. Information on accessing the Zoom event will be sent to you via email. Feature FilmsThe Dalai Lama’s GiftThe Dalai Lama - ScientistHappiness ClassA Road of PrayerVanishing Point Short FilmsLast Days of SummerLo Sum Choe SumThe Old Child&nbsp;The Poplar TreesA Stranger In My Native Land To access each film, use the navigation bar on the right side of the page to scroll through all 10 films and click on the film title that you'd like to watch. Or, <a href="https://watch.eventive.org/buddhistfilmfest/play/679957082f9c37c5b390836c/67994fdf1ad880a9d6d16ffb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">simply click here</a> to get started with the first film, The Dalai Lama's Gift.

2025 Tricycle Film Festival

In 1981, a Buddhist monk teaching at the University of Madison, Wisconsin, made the bold request of the Dalai Lama to come and perform a rare ritual, never before done outside of India or Tibet: the Kalachakra, among the highest of the Buddhist tantric teachings. In just a few months, with a team of dedicated students, and cameras rolling, they constructed a temple and organized an event for over a thousand spiritual seekers, in a cornfield outside Madison. The incredible footage was tucked away in the Smithsonian vaults, until now. What unfolds is the story of a powerful ritual, its impact on the people that made it happen, and the meaning behind this ancient initiation.

The Dalai Lama's Gift

An uplifting and optimistic documentary about the Dalai Lama's meetings with scientists from around the world to find commonalities among Buddhist science and western science to promote health, understanding and compassion for all.

The Dalai Lama: Scientist

Happiness Class takes us on a journey through the unique and fascinating world of children—their preoccupations, worries and, most importantly, their very idea of happiness.

Happiness Class

A drama depicting life in different paths. As two men delve deep down in search for what could heal their pains, through the path of imagination, they see themselves in each other.

Vanishing Point

The documentary A Road of Prayer, which I filmed from 2014 to 2016, was about my return to my hometown of Lhasa, Tibet after a long absence. I used a camera to touch my homeland and people that are both familiar and unfamiliar to me. In the film, three narratives are joined by place, time, and urban change, by filming ordinary people on the prayer road (Kora), I embarked on a journey to reconnect with my hometown.

A Road of Prayer

An impoverished couple crosses the Himalaya on foot to a relatively more prosperous village for work, but the only job left is to collect leaves and chop the wood at a clump of poplar trees, in return for food and shelter. The arrangement takes an unexpected turn when the landowner’s son develops an interest in the migrant woman.

The Poplar Trees

The poignant and personal account of Tenzing Sonam’s first-ever visit to his homeland, from the far reaches of Amdo Province, where Tibetans have lost their language, to Lhasa, the heart of the country.

A Stranger in My Native Land

When the village outcast starts to hear strange sounds in the mountains, everyone except his little brother writes it off as another eccentric performance. He must focus now on finding a wife to redeem himself and secure his place in the social hierarchy, but the sounds keep growing louder and louder.

Last Days of Summer

The traditional ‘3 Year 3 Month Retreat’ or ‘Lo Sum Choe Sum’ is practiced by Buddhist monks, nuns and other devout practitioners. 3 years, 3 months, and 3 days is calculated as the time needed to achieve a higher state of clarity and motivation. By cutting oneself off from the world, and delving into the inner mind, the retreat is supposed to transform the practitioner. Can Lhamo, a young, wounded girl facing the harsh gaze of the world, find her own form of retreat and redemption? Lo Sum Choe Sum was Bhutan’s first entry into the Berlinale Shorts Competition. It was made in 2015 by filmmaker Dechen Roder, who later produced and wrote and directed the well-acclaimed Honeygiver Among the Dogs.

Lo Sum Choe Sum

Philosopher Zhuangzi once dreamt he was a butterfly. This pleasant daydream tells this old story from a new perspective. Modern butterflies apparently dream in VR. Nature, technology, and spirituality seamlessly meld when a monk and a child both embrace modern technology their own way.

The Old Child

Live Zoom Panel | The Dalai Lama’s Gift: A Film Q&amp;A and Exploration of the Kalachakra Tantra | Sunday, March 23, 11 a.m. ET – 12 p.m. ETThis live panel discussion with Ed Bastian, director of The Dalai Lama’s Gift, and scholars José Ignacio Cabezón, Roger R. Jackson, and Vesna A. Wallace will explore the Kalachakra, a rare ritual among the highest of the Buddhist tantric teachings. During the discussion, you’ll learn more about the making of the film and the history of this ancient initiation, and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions. We encourage you to <a href="https://watch.eventive.org/buddhistfilmfest/play/679957082f9c37c5b390836c/67994fdf1ad880a9d6d16ffb" target="_blank">watch the film</a> before the event to get the most out of the conversation.

The Dalai Lama’s Gift: A Film Q&A and Exploration of the Kalachakra Tantra

A live panel discussion on Zoom with director Ed Bastian and scholars José Ignacio Cabezón, Roger R. Jackson, and Vesna A. Wallace

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Join the second annual virtual Tricycle Film Festival from March 14–27, 2025, offering five feature length films and five short films that you can watch all festival long, plus a live panel discussion of the film "The Dalai Lama’s Gift."

Here's what's coming up soon. Can't make it? No sweat. Many live streams will be available for on-demand viewing as well.