'The Unwinking Gaze’, is an observational portrait of the Dalai Lama as he tries to engage the Chinese government into accepting the need for a negotiated settlement on the future of Tibet.

Filmmaker Joshua Dugdale spent a year bargaining with the Dalai Lama's Private Office to agree the access and over the following eighteen months we are party to the day-to-day agonies of a God King as he tries to strike a balance between his own personal vows as a Buddhist and the realpolitik required to bring China to the negotiating table. The result is extraordinary and historic.

We see the Dalai Lama in a very different light to anything ever before; it is David vs Goliath spilling out in front of us and while both the film and the Dalai Lama tread a tightrope along one of the most sensitive issues on earth, it is the 72 year old Tibetan leader who tries to convince the Chinese that he is the only man who will be able to resolve the issue of Tibet.

In Canada we see the Dalai Lama speaking to packed audiences on secular ethics, non-violence and religion yet behind closed doors his attention turns to politics. Back in India we are observers of his meetings with his Special Envoys, and we see how his anger can turn to compassion in seconds. History is made in front of us as the 72-year-old religious leader tells his two protégées that they will have to step into his shoes when he is dead and we see through the actions of the Dalai Lama how he refuses to condemn China’s aggressive politicking when he is prevented from visiting Belgium much to the frustration of his own Private Secretaries. Then onto the Dalai Lama's birthday where we hear the envoys astonishing briefing from their last trip to China. The film ends with the Dalai Lama on the world stage uniting Democrats, Republicans and even George Bush in an extraordinary and unprecedented appeal to China to finally resolve the issue of Tibet.

A modern day epic of biblical proportions, 'The Unwinking Gaze' is not 3 years in the life of the Dalai Lama; it is his life's work in 3 years. This film takes you inside his inner circle showing the titanic struggle of one of the most significant global figures of our time leading his people through non-violence, as he tries to engage China, perhaps for the final time.
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'The Unwinking Gaze’, is an observational portrait of the Dalai Lama as he tries to engage the Chinese government into accepting the need for a negotiated settlement on the future of Tibet.

Filmmaker Joshua Dugdale spent a year bargaining with the Dalai Lama's Private Office to agree the access and over the following eighteen months we are party to the day-to-day agonies of a God King as he tries to strike a balance between his own personal vows as a Buddhist and the realpolitik required... (read more)