Milarepa is a delightfully personal rendering of the story of Tibet's best known and most respected yogi-poet, made by a self-taught director who wrote, lit, set and edited the entire film himself, using amateur actors in a remote Tibetan village. As a young man, Milarepa uses sorcery to murder his aunt and uncle who have stolen his family's fortune. Later he regrets his actions and seeks out a famous lama, who submits his student to years of hardship before complete understanding can be achieved.

From revenge to become a Buddha. The story tells a man of great sin became Buddha in one life. Milarepa is one of the most well known and respected yogi poet in Tibet. His root master Marpa made him experience many years of hardships to purify his negative karma from killing people by sorcery. Finally, master Marpa gave hm empowerment and teachings. His whole life is like a legend inspiring numerous practionerss faith and motivation. The film is directed by Nyinmapa Tulku Sonam Rinpche. He delicately produced this film alone by himself from story writing, role play, photography and editing. As a Tulku, he skillfully directed this film to precisely describe Milarepas life and process of learning Dharma just as he gave Dharma teachings.

Nyinmapa Tulku Sonam Rinpoche directed, produced, wrote, filmed, and edited Milarepa, his first film. As a tulku, he directed this film with great skill, precisely describing Milarepa's life and process of learning the Dharma, just as he gave these Dharma teachings himself.

In this era of light and shadow, film spreads hope and is an important educational medium. I hope that through film, we can discuss the truth in life and have a real understanding of people. As an 8-year old, I was called on to enter the Buddhist monastery and therefore never received professional film training. Undeterred, I was intent upon leaning to make films and I watched as many movies as I could find in order to study their every detail. Eventually, I completed my first script for "Milarepa". I then bought a DV camera and other equipment to prepare to film this, my first project.

After arriving at the shooting location, I carefully selected the protagonist of this drama out of more than 10 local villagers. After nearly a month of training and instruction, filming began. Taking into account the other daily responsibilities of the "actors," the shoot had to be finished in 25 days. Fortunately, the film shoot wrapped on time and then, after many trials and tribulations learning about film editing, "Milarepa" was born!

- Sonam