Wie zwischen Himmel und Erde

Plot (excerpt)

On the roofs of a Tibetan monastery two boys let fly a kite, but suddenly a shot rips the relaxed silence, and one of the two guys gets shot, the "Golden Boy" which is the fictitious successor to the Dalai Lama. The monks act immediately and bring him out of Tibet to secure his body. In the meantime, the Berlinese mountaineer Johanna and her Swiss friend travel to the monastery to stay there for some days. The monks are convinced that Tampa is also close to death by the Chinese government because the orphaned boy was involved as a witness into the assassination. So Johanna is asked by the monks to refuge Tampa and other child refugees to their destination, the Tibetan capital Lhasa. Problems with the Chinese authorities occure, and Johanna decides to support Tashi, a refugee helpers, and to bring a group of children and Dolma, a widowed Tibetan woman, through the Chinese border controls to the Dalai Lamas residence towards Himachal Pradesh state in Northern India. But Johanna and Meto, a former nun, are captured by the Chinese border controls, and Meto is tortured by the soldiers to betray where the boy is hidden. In the meanwhile, Johanna gets back to the group of refugees ...

Cast

Reception

The Swiss cinema website cineman claimed "gripping, fateful, human."

Production

Wie zwischen Himmel und Erde was filmed at locations in Tibet, India and Switzerland at the Eiger glacier, and was produced also by the participation of the Swiss television SRF. It premiered on 31 May 2012 in Switzerland, on 19 July 2012 in Germany, and on 17 May 2013 in Taiwan. On SRF 1 it was shown for the first time on 4 February 2015, and on 16 March 2015 on the German television channel einsfestival. The film is distributed on DVD (RC 2). For international use, the original title may refer to Escape from Tibet and Flucht aus Tibet.