For centuries the mysterious Buddhist kingdom of Tibet remained isolated from the outside world, hidden behind some of the world's highest mountains. From 1959, the Dalai Lama's exile, the "Roof of the World" became even more isolated.

What is Tibet like today? How much has it changed? What has become of its rich culture, its customs and its traditional way of life? Does Buddhism still pervade the lives of Tibetans as it did in the past? Also, what is the future of Tibet? Is there any way out of the labyrinth where the "Tibetan question" is still languishing today? For the first time a Western production unit has managed to obtain permission to film freely inside Tibet and to search for the answers to all these questions. During all of 1999, a team made up of 18 highly qualified professionals has been going all over the "Roof of the World" filming temples and monasteries, tantric rites and ceremonies, sky burials, great popular and religious festivals. Interviewing monks and leading figures both in Tibet and among the Tibetan community in exile. Recording the way people live in the cities, towns and nomadic camps of Tibet.—Larry Levene