Tenzing Sonam

Quick Facts

Full Name	Tenzing Sonam
Occupation	Film Director
Date Of Birth	Jan 16, 1959(1959-01-16)
Age	65
Birthplace	Darjeeling
Country	India
Birth City	West Bengal
Horoscope	Capricorn

Tenzing Sonam Biography

Tenzing Sonam is one of the most popular and richest Film Director who was born on January 16, 1959 in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Tenzing Sonam (born 16 January 1959) is an Tibetan filmmaker as well as a writer and essayist. He produces through his production firm, White Crane Films, which he co-owns together with his partner Ritu Sarin.

Sonam and Sarin created the first Tibet Film Festival in London in March 1992 , in conjunction in collaboration with the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA). In March 2000 they held Tibet 2000: The Survival of the Spirit, a 10-day celebration of Tibet held at the India International Centre in New Delhi that included film screenings, photography exhibitions, the making of a sand mandala performance of members of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts as well as panel discussions and seminars with well-known scholars and writers and a public speech of the Dalai Lama.

In 2012, Sonam and Sarin founded the non-profit organisation, White Crane Arts & Media, to fulfil their long-held desire to promote contemporary art, cinema and independent media practices in the Himalayan regions. Its first project, in collaboration with Khoj International Artists’ Association, was an artists’ residency which was held in Dharamshala in October 2012. Its main project – the Dharamshala International Film Festival – had its first edition in November 2012.

Sonam studied at the Jesuit boarding school, St Joseph’s College, in Darjeeling. He did his undergraduate studies at St Stephens College, Delhi University. After a year each at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona and Santa Monica College in California, he went to the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism where he specialised in documentary filmmaking.

Sonam’s first film was a student film Mark Pauline: Mysteries of a Mechanical Mind (1984) He co-directed the film alongside his fellow Berkeley students, Steve Evans and John Sergeant. Portrait of the enigmatic Bay Area artist Mark Pauline The film was awarded Third Place at the 1984 Student Emmys. He created his thesis film, The New Puritans: The Sikhs of Yuba City(1985) as an initiative in collaboration with Ritu Sarin. In the years since, each of of his films have been produced together with Sarin. One of the subjects they have frequently addressed in the work of both is Tibet and Tibet, in which they have been deeply involved in many various ways, both personally politically , and artistically. Through their art and films they’ve tried to explore, debate and consider the issues of identity, exile nationality, culture and exile that face Tibet’s Tibetan people.

Tenzing Sonam Net Worth

Tenzing Sonam is one of the richest Film Director from India. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Tenzing Sonam 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

After graduating from Delhi University in 1978, Sonam worked for a time within the Security Department of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala. Then, he worked as dishwasher in Manhattan and gardening in Scottsdale and an Janitor in Berkeley. He was also the manager of the Del Rey Car Wash in Marina del Rey, California for a time of one year. After graduation from Berkeley in 1991, he spent four years as the Programming Director of the Meridian Trust in London, alongside his partner Ritu Sarin. In 1991 the duo of Sarin created White Crane Films. He has been a filmmaker who is independent since then.

Alongside his work as a film maker, Sonam is also an essayist and a writer. In 1979, with the late writer K. Dhondup, the scholar Tashi Tsering, Thupten Samphel, Kesang Tenzin and Gyalpo Tsering, he established the first language English Tibetan poetry journal, Lotus Firlds and Fresh Winds. He created the scripts for the film features, Dreaming Lhasa (2005) and The Sweet Requiem (2018). His writings have appeared by Civil Lines, The Hindu, Time magazine, and Himal Southasian. His travel story, A Stranger in My Native Land appeared in Written Forever: The Best Of Civil Lines.

Sonam and Sarin participated in the KHOJ Marathon with Hans Ulrich Obrist in New Delhi on 22 January 2011. He was also a part of the Engadin Art Talks in Zuoz, Switzerland, in August 2012, a symposium on art and architecture directed by Beatrix Ruf, director and curator of the Kunsthalle Zurich, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programme at the Serpentine Gallery in London.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

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Who is Tenzing Sonam Dating?

According to our records, Tenzing Sonam married to Ritu Sarin. As of December 1, 2023, Tenzing Sonam’s is not dating anyone.

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Facts & Trivia

Tenzing Ranked on the list of most popular Film Director. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in India. Tenzing Sonam celebrates birthday on January 16 of every year.