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For the Chinese government, keeping up appearances at the Beijing Olympics has so far meant jailing six pro-Tibet protestors, detaining four more, and blocking access to iTunes for distributing an album of Free-Tibet protest songs. The effort seems to have succeeded – even though the Dalai Lama reported that up to 140 Tibetan protestors were killed when the Chinese army fired on a crowd in eastern Tibet this past Monday, media coverage of the Olympics has eclipsed the massacre. In an interview with Le Monde, the Dalai Lama added that 400 additional people had been killed in Lhasa alone. Believing the Chinese government won’t let up in the near future, he said that “a project of long-term brutal oppression is under way.” In May, Palden Gyatso, a Buddhist monk imprisoned and tortured for 33 years by the Chinese army, testified at a Spanish court hearing on crimes against humanity, torture, and genocide in Tibet. Makoto Sasa’s documentary Fire Under the Snow has captured the life and struggle of Palden Gyatso on film, opening this weekend in theaters.

GUESTS: Palden Gyatso, dissident Tibetan monk, imprisoned for more than 20 years and tortured by China, subject of a new documentary called Fire Under the Snow, Makoto Sasa, producer and director of Fire Under the Snow, Ginden Gyatso, interpreter.

For more information, visit www.fireunderthesnow.com.

Fire Under the Snow is showing at the Arclight Theater in Sherman Oaks, 15301 Ventura Blvd, for one week only. Screenings are at:

Fri. Aug. 22 – 12:10PM, 6:00PM
Sat. Aug. 23 – 2:10PM, 8:00PM
Sun. Aug. 24 – 4:00PM, 9:40PM
Mon. Aug. 25 – 12:10PM, 6:00PM
Tue. Aug. 26 – 2:10PM, 8:00PM
Wed. Aug. 27 – 4:00PM, 9:40PM
Thurs. Aug. 28 – 12:10PM, 6:00PM

NOTE: The film maker and Palden Gyatso will appear during the weekend screenings for Q&A.