![[poster with The Last Dalai Lama? in red type left of a black and white close up of an elderly man's head, against a dark background]](https://buddhistfilmfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/news-the-last-dalai-lama-poster.jpg)
The Last Dalai Lama?, the new film by director Mickey Lemle (Ram Dass Fierce Grace, Compassion In Exile), has been extended for a third consecutive week at two theaters in the San Francisco Bay area and will open in New York City on July 28.
The participating theaters are the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael (where a special opening event was held on the Dalai Lama’s birthday, July 6, with director Mickey Lemle attending, along with Tibetan musician Tsering Dorjee Bawa performing), and the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. The film will open in New York’s IFC Center on Friday, July 28. Other bookings around the country are expected to be announced shortly.
The film is a comprehensive update of the director’s groundbreaking Compassion in Exile (1991) profile of the Dalai Lama, with an intimate look at the enduring good humor and gentle wisdom of His Holiness, now eighty-one. Addressing his own death, the Dalai Lama considers the challenges of the prospect of his reincarnation, with Tibet still under Chinese control; his urgency and dedication come through powerfully. The Last Dalai Lama? was filmed on location in India and the US, and features vivid archival footage, with an original score by Philip Glass and Tenzin Choegyal.
