India, Dec. 2 -- Wading through 6-foot-deep snow to evade Chinese authorities; a longing for familiar faces in the refugee settlement of Delhi's Majnu Ka Tila; the grit to head back home after 100 years - these are just some of the narratives at the core of Tibetan cinema, which has emerged in the last 20 years.

But before that, stories on placid, unperturbed monkhood, the aesthetics of the maroon robe, the lures of Buddhism and the high-flying prayer flags over magnanimous mountains swamped Tibetan stories on screen.

Tibetan cinema varies significantly from cinema on Tibet in its perspective, language, and narrative focus. While cinema on Tibet generally consists of films made by non-Tibetans - often Chinese or Western filmmakers -exot...