The shadow circus : the CIA in Tibet

Resource Information

The work The shadow circus : the CIA in Tibet represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Bowdoin College Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Moving Image, Visual Materials.

Label

The shadow circus : the CIA in Tibet

Title remainder

the CIA in Tibet

Statement of responsibility

written by Tenzing Sonam ; produced and directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam ; a White Crane Films production for BBC

Contributor

• Tenzing Sonam
• Berkeley Media
• British Broadcasting Corporation
• White Crane Films
• Sachs, Andrew
• Sarin, Ritu, 1960-

Director

• Sarin, Ritu, 1960-
• Tenzing Sonam

Producer

• Tenzing Sonam
• Sarin, Ritu, 1960-

Subject

• Insurgency -- China | Tibet Autonomous Region
• United States -- Foreign relations -- China
• United States, Central Intelligence Agency
• Documentary films
• Espionage, American -- China | Tibet Autonomous Region -- History -- 20th century
• Guerrillas -- China | Tibet Autonomous Region
• Tibet Autonomous Region (China) -- History -- 1951-
• China -- Foreign relations -- United States

Genre

• Documentary films

Language

eng

Summary

The Tibetan people are well known for being devoutly religious and peace-loving. Few, however, know that thousands of Tibetans took up arms against the invading forces of Communist China and for more than a decade waged a bitter and bloody guerrilla war of resistance. From the mid-1950s until 1969 the Tibetans were aided in their efforts by an unlikely ally: the CIA.Between 1957 and 1969 the CIA armed, financed, and helped train Tibetan guerrillas who operated first inside Tibet, and later -- after the Dalai Lama's escape to India in 1959 -- from a base in Mustang, a remote corner of northwestern Nepal. This project, code-named ST Circus, was one of the CIA's longest-running covert operations. The withdrawal of the CIA's support in 1969 was as abrupt as its initial involvement was unexpected: The Tibetans had simply fitted into America's larger policy of destabilising or overthrowing Communist regimes, and when that no longer applied, they were abandoned.Featuring unique archival footage and exclusive interviews with former Tibetan resistance fighters and surviving CIA operatives, this powerful documentary reveals for the first time this hitherto unknown chapter in Tibet's recent history -- a tale that is both heroic and tragic, and full of sad ironies and unexpected twists that overturn all preconceptions about both Tibet and the CIA. It was produced by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam

Cataloging source

VaAlASP

Characteristic

videorecording

Language note

In English and Tibetan

Runtime

50

Target audience

adult