"How far would you go to save your dying culture?" "Sometimes you have to give up your kids in order to save them." These are the two different statements that serve as "taglines" to JOURNEY FROM ZANSKAR - single statements that describe the heart of the film. But the film didn't start out this way. As with many documentaries, the heart of the film had to be discovered after its own long journey.

The project began when an old friend from Chicago called me. Barry Weiss wanted to support the Stongde monks in Zanskar. He thought making a documentary about their good works would do that. In April 2004 he and I and Curt Jones met at my kitchen table in San Francisco and talked through the possibilities. The initial objective was to film Tenzin Choegyal's long-awaited visit to the seven ancient monasteries of Zanskar in July. Better known as the youngest brother of the Dalai Lama, TC (as he is called) is recognized as the reincarnation of Ngari Rinpoche - the owner of the monasteries of all of Western Tibet. As such, he is revered and beloved, despite his own deep skepticism on the whole subject. There was also the hope that the Dalai Lama himself would visit Zanskar in August.

       -- Frederick Marx