King Gesar to Hit the Silver Screen

In June this year, the Beijing-based media company Golden Tara started shooting the film adaptation of the Tibetan epic, King Gesar. This RMB 500 million production is expected to reconstruct the exploits of the ancient hero through thrilling special effects and mesmerizing scenes that could rival the likes of The Lord of the Rings and Troy.

Airing Brings More Publicity

King Gesar, dating back to the 11th century, is a lengthy Tibetan epic poem performed in the form of storytelling and singing. It was inscribed by UNESCO as a world intangible cultural heritage in 2009 and enjoys world fame as the “Homeric hymn of the East.”

With backing from the China Cultural Heritage Foundation and China Thangkas Culture Research Center, Beijing Golden Tara Film Co., Ltd is now working on a film about the legendary Tibetan hero. To bring a work that has been passed down orally for centuries to the silver screen to be viewed by billions of people globally is “an effective method to promote Chinese culture nationwide and worldwide,” according to Golden Tara President Deyang.

The longest epic in the world, King Gesar is about the hero’s combat with demons to free the oppressed and rescue his mother and wife from hell. Studies of the work constitute an independent sector of Tibetology – Gesarology – whose researchers are found worldwide.