Article in February 2005 issue of the ITVA Newsletter

by: Elisabeth Noone, ITVA Member

The "Year of the Wood Rooster" Takes the Chicken Out Of Me

Would I be interested in traveling to Eastern Tibet with my dear teacher, a reincarnated Tibetan Rinpoche Lama, who is also my friend,  along with his family of five, and visiting his Monastery and the surrounding villages and schools, and hosting a documentary/fundraising film about the return of this revered Guru to his homeland?  Yes.
So, on July 30th, 2004 I was at Kennedy Airport in a haze of confusion, repacking my 5 suitcases to avoid spending my entire personal allotted per diem on excess baggage weight.  I wanted to bring presents for the children in the schools and the villagers. So I left behind some blankets I really could have used! 
Thirteen hours to Beijing, flying over the North Pole, I caught my breath and began reading the instructions for my new Sony PC109 mini camcorder.  Mike Speara of Kaufman Astoria Studios in NYC and ITVA-DC's own Rick Finley were invaluable in helping me decide which camera to purchase for the events I was about to experience.
They were gracious enough to add some pointers.  For instance, "Don't overuse the zoom," "15 second scenes are best," "Use a tripod whenever you can," "Breathe evenly when holding the camera," "Don't forget to turn on the sound," "Use the mic windscreen," etc., etc. I mention this because the camera person who was supposed to travel with us became very ill with altitude sickness after three days in Tibet and had himself shipped back to the States.  So, I became the head camera and sound person.
My friend Bardor Tulku Rinpoche's return to his homeland and to Raktrul Monastery in the region of Kham, Eastern Tibet was met with great fanfare and well-planned ceremonies including traditional dancing, singing, and chanting.  We were greeted by lengthy motorcades of villagers who had traveled great distances to greet Bardor Tulku and receive his blessings. I managed to capture these colorful and joyful events with my PC109 mini cam, and when I remembered to turn on the sound, I got some extraordinary location ambiance.
The journey to Raktrul Monastery and the surrounding villages included climbing to 16,000 feet at several points  via bus with a driver whose skills rival those of any NASCAR star, motorcyclist, horse, or yak. Once we reached Raktrul Monastery at about 8,000 feet, we took day trips to surrounding villages. At one point we climbed by foot to 12,000 feet where we found a cave in which the famed teacher Guru Rinpoche  took a three-year retreat.  Lama Sange, a profound teacher of Tibetan Buddhism in Red Hook, New York who was also on our trip, hung a string of prayer flags over a precipice with breathtaking agility and strength as he maneuvered his body around the thin path and crevices surrounding the cave.  Yep, got it on tape.
Other profound moments I captured on tape included. . .The collapsed bridge from the ceaseless rain as we waited hours for it to be rebuilt for travel.  The endearing faces of the children as they received their first personal school supplies which we brought with us.  The countless injuries and sicknesses of the villagers, caused primarily through unavailable medical assistance and supplies. I dressed wounds I could not have otherwise looked at;  helped with a Herculean effort and raw determination to push the bus out of a mud slide. The lush mountains and the vastness of the land.   The power of the rivers and the durability of the Tibetan people.  All on video, most of it even with sound.
The devastation of Tibet from the Chinese invasion in the 1950's is still apparent.  Entire monasteries and towns are rubble, but rebuilding has at last begun. The Tibetan people, so isolated in the remote villages, are uncannily strong and with smiles that clear your brain. They do not suffer from malnutrition.  The land is abundant in minerals and plant life is colorful and thriving. We ate lots of zucchini and yak meat (tastes like roast beef), and they ate moo-moos (Tibetan dumplings).  I lost 17 pounds.  And gained a fulfilled dream.
I returned in early August to Washington, DC.,  exhausted and exhilarated. To my great surprise and thrill, my ex-husband and friend, Bob Noone, taught himself the Movie Maker Software program.  We became would-be filmmakers and put together the fundraising video ourselves.  We managed to put aside our personality differences and plunge into the mighty task of editing 9 hours of footage.  Bob's patience and perseverance were astonishing.  It was, after all, a project I wanted to do.
The process of putting a video together is something I don't think anyone can truly appreciate until you do it yourself.  The respect I have gained for editors, producers, engineers, writers, software experts, and directors is akin to what I felt climbing that mountain, thousands of feet, looking around and down and appreciating how lucky I am to be in the midst of it all.
With 540 minutes of footage and over 400 stills, we think there is a documentary here.  Any suggestions or guidance would be appreciated.  Wishing you a Happy New Year of the Wood Rooster.
Elisabeth Noone is a voice over artist and can be reached  at: elisabeth.noone@verizon.net or www.ElisabethNoone.com.