The Series
It begins with a raven, circa 1391.
Western Tibet. Bandits raid a nomadic family, and a mother hides her newborn under a rock. When two hungry foxes come for the child, a huge raven appears and drives them away — Nagpapo, the protector deity. That child becomes Gedun Drupa, the first Dalai Lama. This is where the lineage begins, and where our series begins.
A feature-length docu-drama, The Fifteenth brings the entire Dalai Lama lineage to life through animation — re-enacting six centuries of history since 1391 — woven together with an interview of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama conducted by prominent scholars, and with the voices of experts, historians and political leaders on Tibet, the current Dalai Lama, and his succession.
The series documents the spiritual, political and social rise of an institution created to spread peace and compassion — first in Tibet, now in the world — and why the coming search for the fifteenth Dalai Lama matters far beyond the Himalayas. The lineage is not only a tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It is Tibet's soul.
