Movie Description:
Devotion and Defiance examines the new wave of Communist Party crackdowns on Buddhism in Tibet and is a companion video to the International Campaign forTibet`s July 2004 report on religious freedom, `When the Sky Fell to Earth.` Devotion and Defiance depicts the growthof religious institutions in Tibet sincethe 1980`s and the Chinese government`s increasing efforts to stop it. Rare footage from inside Tibet includes, Patriotic education sessions in which officials lecture monks and laypeople on ideological responsibilities and Communist Party loyalty; Geshe Sanom Phuntosk leading public prayers for the DalaiLama`s long life with huge, banned images of the exiled leader; The destruction of monastic living quarters at Larung Gar Buddhist Institute; Official Chinese footage of Gyalsten Norbu, the boy appointed by the Communist Party to be the `Panchen Lama.`