Flagship project

Geshe Wangyal1901–1983

A biopic set in Russia, Tibet, India, China and the United States

Seeking €200k–1M Budget about €10M International co-production

The film opens in 1937: monks held for six days under open sky in the rain, then shot. Wangyal had left in time, and he lives the rest of his life for every one of them.

A Kalmyk boy born into a poor family becomes one of the first teachers of Tibetan Buddhism in America, and helps bring the Dalai Lama before the Western world.

Black-and-white portrait of Geshe Wangyal, half his face in shadow — Geshe Ngawang Wangyal

Budget€10MAbout, international co-production

Step one€200kScreenplay, promotion and development

Flagship partner€1MDevelopment and financing of the film

StageScriptScreenplay written from the documentary research; partners and co-producers wanted

Story

In 1901, in Kalmykia, a land where dry winds blur the border between the plains and the sky, a boy is born into a poor Buddhist family. A young monk, he is sent to continue his studies in sacred Tibet. He expects to come home. He never will: Russia becomes a state hostile to every religion.

Rivalry inside the monastic community and the Chinese invasion of Tibet force Wangyal to flee to China. He meets figures from the world of intelligence and is offered a way to help Tibet: deciphering codes used to prepare the Dalai Lama’s escape from besieged Lhasa. Entering the raw, compromised “real world” does not corrupt him. His long, purposeful life becomes an embodiment of the Dharma.

In 1955 he emigrates to the United States and founds a Buddhist centre in New Jersey. A few rich Ivy League students become his disciples, and later exceptional scholars. Against the will of the American government, Wangyal and his students make it possible for the Dalai Lama to come to the US and speak to the Western press.

His life

1901
Born Botya Lidzhiev in Kalmykia, in the south of Russia.
1920s
Leaves home to study in Tibet. His family receives a single letter: sell the cattle, buy land and plant an apple garden. The garden still grows in the Kalmyk steppe.
Tibet
Earns the geshe degree in Buddhist philosophy at Drepung Gomang monastery. Later interpreter for Sir Charles Bell in India.
Lhasa
Deciphers codes used to prepare the Dalai Lama’s escape from besieged Lhasa.
1955
Arrives in New Jersey, invited by the Kalmyk diaspora. Builds homes and a monastery, the first centre for the academic study of Tibetan Buddhism in the US. Teaches at Columbia University.
1960s
His first American students include Robert Thurman, Jeffrey Hopkins and Christopher George. All become doctors of philosophy and found the field of Tibetan studies in American universities.
1979
With his students, helps bring about the Dalai Lama’s first visit to the United States.
1983
Dies in New Jersey. At eighty he had begun learning Russian, hoping to return home.
1991
The Dalai Lama lands in Elista. Asked why he came: “I am here because of my friend, Geshe Wangyal.”

The research

The screenplay is based on years of research for Ella Manzheeva’s documentary Geshe Wangyal. With Blessing of the Three Jewels (2022): four months of shooting across five countries and two years of editing, done with the help and encouragement of the people who lived these events. All of his living students supported the film.

5countries filmed: USA, India, Russia, Hong Kong, Germany

8first-hand witnesses interviewed, including the 14th Dalai Lama

2022documentary released; Asian World Film Festival, Artdocfest

Asian World Film FestivalTibet House USInternational Buddhist Film FestivalTricycle Buddhist Film FestivalOne Sixth FestivalWatch the trailer ↗

“Perhaps one of the most important individuals of the 20th century.”
Robert Thurman, president of Tibet House US, on Geshe Wangyal

“A wonderful and important film.”
Tenzin Tethong, former Kalon Tripa of the Central Tibetan Administration

Interviewed for the film

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Telo Tulku Rinpoche · former Shajin Lama of Kalmykia, the Dalai Lama’s representative in Russia 2015–2026

Robert Thurman · Columbia University

Jeffrey Hopkins · University of Virginia

Joshua and Diana Cutler · Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center

Joel McCleary

Dr Alexander Berzin · Harvard PhD, Buddhist scholar

Archive

Geshe Wangyal with Babu Tharchin and his wife, Kalimpong, 1953 — With Babu Tharchin and his wife, Kalimpong, 1953

His brother Mursang with two sons, Siberia, 1959

With Robert Thurman, Jeffrey Hopkins and Christopher George

With Ling Rinpoche at the Learning Center, New Jersey, 1980

The Dalai Lama teaching at Geshe Wangyal’s centre, 1984

Archive photograph of Geshe Wangyal smiling, outdoors — Archive: Geshe Wangyal in New Jersey

Black-and-white archive photograph of Geshe Wangyal laughing with young students — Archive: with young students

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From the documentary

Hands building a mandala offering of rice beside a small American flag — A mandala offering

Robert Thurman speaking during an interview at dusk — Robert Thurman

Two stupas silhouetted against a hazy sun — Bodh Gaya

Rows of butter lamps burning behind a stained window — Butter lamps

A vast crowd of monks under a tent at a teaching — A teaching by the Dalai Lama

A figure at a shrine lit by small lamps, seen through glass — A shrine at night

The shrine room of the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center with banners of Geshe Wangyal and the Dalai Lama — The Learning Center, New Jersey

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama speaking during an interview — His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

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Director’s note

“The people we met, who knew him personally, were wise, and their sincerity itself built the drama. I simply observed and learned to listen between the lines.”
Ella Manzheeva, on making the documentary

Working on his life changed her. The fiction feature carries that research into a large-scale international drama: a monk who never sought recognition and still changed how the West sees Buddhism.

For the investor

Step one

€200k

Screenplay, promotion and development: bringing international partners and co-producers on board.

Repaid with a premium on the first day of shooting, plus a share of net profits. Co-producer credit.

Flagship partner

€1M

Development and financing of the film.

120% repaid first from the film’s revenues, then about 5% of net profits. Producer credit.

The investment goes through a dedicated project company (SPV) for the film. Net profits are shared 50/50 between investors (pro rata) and producers. Terms are indicative and set in definitive agreements. This page is for information only and is not a public offer of securities.

Contact

Talk to the director

Ella Manzheeva elbudman@gmail.com +33 6 32 01 26 27