{Singapore Premiere}
SAT 29 SEP | 7:10pm
USA 2017
75 mins
NC16
Consumer Advice: Some mature content
English with no subtitle
Directed by David Wright
Synopsis
As the dust was still settling after WWII and the Cold War divided the world, the mysterious and impenetrable mountain kingdom of Tibet sent out a plea to help stop the communist forces of China from invading their country. They chose the most well-known newsman of his day to document their plight, hoping to garner international support to protect their borders from the Red Army. Lowell Thomas, along with his son, became only the seventh and eighth Westerners invited to walk through the Western Gate of Lhasa. Meeting the 15-year-old Dalai Lama was an adventure of a lifetime for them, and the start of a relationship between His Holiness and the Thomas family that has now spanned three generations.
Out of this World is a digitised and re-released version of an original film print from the 1950’s by Lowell Thomas, which will include new scenes and information, as well as photographs from the original trip and those from our 2016 expedition.
Director’s Bio
David Wright is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. He has worked in more than 60 countries and has made films for National Geographic, the BBC and PBS. David was cinematographer on features including Slingshot (2015), Voice of America: Lowell Thomas and the Rise of Broadcast News (2017), The Boys that Said No and The Dark Illuminates the Light (2018). “Lowell Thomas is regarded as the father of broadcast journalism,” David says, “and after a 25-year career shooting and producing documentaries it was a privilege to rework Out of This World for a new audience.”
Director’s Statement
Lowell Thomas was America’s best known newsman, one of the world’s greatest adventurers and is considered one of the founding fathers of broadcast journalism. With a 50-year career spanning radio, television, cinema and the publication of many books, he brought the world to the American people. Much of what Lowell broadcast was immediately archived and has sat untouched for decades.
