In 'Miss Tibet,' exiles use beauty pageant as a survival tool

When Tenzin Khecheo first heard about the Miss Tibet pageant, she thought it made no sense.

That's because a pageant runs contrary to Tibetan cultural values, which stress modesty and cooperation over competition.

Indeed, the event has become so controversial that the current Tibetan prime minister suggests any swimsuit round should be done in private.

Khecheo, a 21-year-old who lives in Minneapolis, grew up in one of many Tibetan communities that sprouted around the world when Tibetans fled their homeland after China invaded. Little did she know as a young girl that she would travel halfway around the world to compete for an unlikely title.

"Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile," a new documentary receiving its Minnesota premier at the Minneapolis-St Paul International Film Festival this weekend, explores her participation in the unusual beauty pageant.

Born in India to Tibetan parents, Khecheo came to the United States at 7. As she grew older she did some modeling, and began hearing about the Miss Tibet pageant. It's held every year in Dharamsala, India, the capital of the Tibetan community in exile. In 2011, a friend urged her to enter the Miss Tibet Minnesota contest.

"So I was like, 'Why not? Let's give it a try for fun,'" she recalled. "That was my first experience with Miss Tibet."

Khecheo won, and earned a place in the U.S. national finals. That's when documentary film maker Norah Shapiro entered her life.

Shapiro was already making a film about the pageant because she wondered why organizers were doing it. The answer came from the pageant's producer Lobsang Wangyal, who calls himself the Tibetan Donald Trump.

Miss Tibet uses a western-style event to attract global attention to Tibetan issues, Wangyal said.

"Not only for women's issues," he says in the film. "Not only young Tibetan people, but also the bigger picture of Tibet."

Wangyal strikes Shapiro as "the kind of guy fiction writers wish they'd dream up."

Shapiro also knew that the 2012 pageant was going to be big as it was the 10th, and more likely to attract attention.

She met Khecheo just before the Miss Tibet North America competition, and asked to follow along. Khecheo then won in New York and received a ticket to Dharamsala to compete in Miss Tibet.

She had no hesitation, at least initially.

"I was super excited," she said. "But the next morning it kind of hit me. Like 'Oh man, I gotta go now!'"

Shapiro's film "Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile" follows Khecheo's trip to India, where there were only five other contestants.

"There was another girl from Australia. There was another young girl from I think Switzerland," Khecheo said. "And then three girls from different parts of India."

But the six participants were the most the pageant had ever had. Shapiro attributes the low numbers to the fact that the event defies Tibetan tradition.

"It took a lot of guts for the young women" Shapiro said.

And that was just the beginning. The contestants were plunged into Tibetan culture: meeting with veterans of the political struggle with China, with Buddhist scholars, and attending a teaching by the Dalai Lama. Sometimes it got too much for Khecheo, who is shown crying after meeting a former political prisoner.

"It just got a little emotional, and the waterworks started coming," she said. "Just because I realized that there's a lot of things I don't know, and there's nothing I have done."

Ultimately, Khecheo said, the contestants didn't feel like they were competing.

"If I don't win, she wins," Khecheo said of her counterparts. "That doesn't mean I lose. It's a win for Tibet. Tibet wins."

Of course, it wasn't that simple in practice. Events in the film take an unexpected twist, sending the whole pageant into turmoil.

Khecheo is now back in Minnesota, deep in her studies to become a nurse. But she hopes the film can raise awareness of Tibet.

"Being at home is nerve-wracking," she said. "I don't know how people are going to take it away, but it'll be a meaningful film to see."

The Saturday showing at the Minneapolis-St Paul International Film Festival is sold out, but there is another set for April 26. The film also will be screened Sunday at the Rochester International Film Festival.