The award-winning documentary TASHI AND THE MONK, directed by Andrew Hinton and Johnny Burke, and winner of the International Documentary Association’s 2014 Best Short Award, will premiere on HBO on August 17th.  TASHI AND THE MONK provides a heartfelt and uplifting look into a unique children’s community in the Himalayan Mountains.

Trained under the Dalai Lama to share Tibetan Buddhism with the West, monk Lobsang Phuntsok felt compelled to leave his life in the United States to return to his home village in India to rescue children from suffering.

Since then he has created a unique community called Jhamtse Gatsal which provides a permanent home for 85 orphaned or abandoned children.

5 year-old Tashi is the community’s newest arrival. Her mother recently passed away and she’s been abandoned by her alcoholic father. Wild and troubled, Tashi is struggling to find her place amongst 84 new siblings.  Can the community’s love and compassion transform Tashi’s alienation and tantrums into a capacity to make her first real friend?