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Hi! My name is Kristi Tethong, and I am a Canadian independent filmmaker.
If you’re connected to the Tethong family, you may already know that for the past several years I’ve been working on a documentary called FAR FROM HOME, about a remarkable era in Judy and TC Tethong’s life of service to the Tibetan people.
The film draws upon their extraordinary stories and personal archive of photos and film reels from the early, incredibly challenging years of exile in the 1960s, when TC led a resettlement effort for thousands of Tibetans in a South Indian jungle.
Exploring universal themes of displacement, hope, resilience and the impact of Alzheimer's on family - FAR FROM HOME prevents one thread of a vulnerable Tibetan oral history from disappearing with its aging protagonists.
Official trailer:
To date, FAR FROM HOME has been primarily self-funded, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.
And the film enjoyed a Special Screening at the Dharamshala International Film Festival in November 2025. It couldn't have had a more fitting first audience, than in the very place Judy and TC's story began.
Why We're Raising Funds
FAR FROM HOME now moves into its next major chapter - and we'll be able to tell you some exciting news soon. However, there are still some significant costs to cover. No contribution is too small!
We've already raised almost 1/2 of our goal and hope to raise the rest by
by Mar 24, 2026.
Funds will go towards paying for:
1. Archival Materials ($10,500 CAD / $7,444 USD)
Never-before-published LIFE Magazine photos and rare CBC footage central to the story.
2. Picture & Sound PostProduction ($17,500 CAD / $12,406 USD)
Sound edit / mix, colour grade, subtitles, closed captions.
3. Legal fees ($5,500 CAD /$3,900 USD)
Legal counsel, Errors & Omissions Insurance, accounting, audit.
If financial support isn't possible, other help means just as much — sharing the campaign, connecting us with potential funders or grants, or simply cheering the film on as we be bring it to festivals. You can follow along on instagram here: @farfromhome_film
If this campaign raises more than our goal, every additional dollar will still directly support Far From Home by strengthening the film's impact and reach - including Tibetan community screenings, accessibility tools (like translation into Tibetan and other languages), and educational or outreach materials that help bring this story to wider audiences.
TC left this life in 2024 and we miss him deeply. As a filmmaker, it is my hope this story will offer a vivid time capsule of a most precarious era for Tibetans, and illustrate the sacrifice and resilience of a disappearing generation. They are the last to have lived in a free and independent Tibet, and they kept it alive in exile. As the Dalai Lama says, “Now most of them have disappeared. Gone”.
Their stories must not vanish with them.
China’s ongoing, escalating erasure of Tibetan identity, including nearly one million children taken into state-run boarding schools (as evidenced by Lhadon’s work here: https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133212) makes the Tibetan story of survival in exile a quiet yet critical act of protest, as well as an urgent reminder of what is still at stake.
In these uncertain times, I believe Judy and TC's story can offer hope and inspire action by showing what individuals can do, even in the most dire of circumstances.
With gratitude for your consideration,
Kristi