Sarah Masters reviews the film

Daughters of Wisdom

For centuries, the women of rural Tibet have been relegated to subservient roles. Regarded as capable of little more than churning butter and bearing children, they have lived servile lives without access to education or the time to practice Buddhism to the same degree as men.

In Daughters of Wisdom, filmmaker Bari Pearlman creates a vivid, intimate portrait of the lives of a small group of these women. The film is seen through the eyes of the nuns of Kala Rongo Monastery of Nangchen, Kham. Close to 300 nuns are the first to undergo religious education in order to become leaders in their communities, while their siblings and their mothers who are not in training still spend their days in utter poverty and a harsh climate collecting yak dung and hauling water.

Pearlman follows these women as they immerse themselves in the study and practices of Buddhism and witnesses their culture, a culture on the verge of positive social change realized through education and religious cultivation. She captures the austere and stunning landscape, the harsh conditions at high altitudes, and the flowering of life within the monastery as these nuns slowly take control of their destinies.

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Completed: 2007
Running Time: 68 Minutes
Director: Bari Pearlman

If you are interested in this film, please contact Katharina Nimmervoll, VP of Theatrical Distribution, at 7th Art Releasing, the distributor. Her e-mail address: katharina@7thart.com. For a calendar of theatrical screenings, go to http://www.daughtersofwisdom.com/screenings.html. If you live in the New York area, Daughters of Wisdom is screening at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan on August 20th and August 27th at 7:00 PM, followed by a Q & A with the film’s director. Check http://www.rmanyc.org/programs-events/calendar.xml?context=programs-events/calendar.xml for details.

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