Refugees from Tibet have found an uneasy new home in the Indian Himalayas. There, a photojournalist by the name of Lobsang Wangyal decided to bring a little bit of the Tibetan culture back into the lives of the refugees by organising the Miss Tibet Pageant, allowing refugee Tibetan women to come together for an evening of ball-gowns and festivities - reminding them of the culture some think they have been deprived of. For Tenzin Khecheo, a Tibetan-American teenager, the pageant serves as the chance for her to truly face up to the changes and emerging cultural identity she cannot come to terms with herself.
Director Norah Shapiro makes her feature directorial debut with 'Miss Tibet: Beauty In Exile' - a touching and compelling look into the world of cultural identity for women wishing to reconnect with what makes them who they are, and adapt to a changing world. With a running time of an hour and ten minutes, the documentary has been filmed in both English and Tibetan to appeal to the growing audiences for the pageant, with a US premiere taking place on 16th & 17th November, 2014, at the DOC NYC in New York.