STORY

Memoirs of a Monk Driver is a short documentary examining the traveling Tibetan sand mandala as a living Himalayan art practice in contemporary California. Structured through the perspective of an American tour driver who has spent thirteen years transporting Tibetan monks across the United States, the film explores how ritual creation and dissolution operate as philosophy, pedagogy, and public encounter in diasporic space.

Movie trailer

Meet the Subjects

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso – Tour Director & Ritual Master

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, born on December 10, 1972, in Phuntsokling Tibetan Settlement, Odisha, is a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, master chanter, and Vajrayana practitioner. He began his monastic journey at the age of 13 at Gaden Shartse Monastery, where he completed 17 years of rigorous training in Buddhist philosophy, including the five great treatises (Prajnaparamita, Pramana, Madhyamika, Abhidharma, and Vinaya) as well as Tibetan grammar, history, Sutra, and Tantra. He was awarded the prestigious Geshe degree. He further completed the advanced Vajrayana program and is widely revered as one of the most accomplished tantric masters of his generation.Geshe Kelsang served as the Head Chanting Master of Gaden Shartse Monastery for 8 years, earning deep respect for his profound chanting abilities and ritual precision. Now serving as the Ritual Master of the Phukhang Tour, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso brings decades of experience, spiritual insight, and liturgical mastery to audiences worldwide. He continues to be a senior teacher and spiritual guide, devoted to preserving and transmitting the authentic teachings of Tibetan Buddhism.

Jampa Tsultrim – Mandala and Chanting Master

Born in 1980 in the De-rong District of Tibet, he attended primary school up to the 4th grade. At the age of 13, he joined Nang-sang Monastery, where he received novice monk vows from Shoue-pa Rinpoche and continued his studies in Buddhist texts and cultural traditions. In 2005, at the age of 25, he fled Tibet and joined Gaden Shartse Monastery in South India. In 2009, at the age of 29, he received full ordination as a monk from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. From 2005 to 2020, he dedicated 15 years to studying Buddhist philosophy, including Epistemology and the Five Great Treatises (Pramana, Prajnaparamita, Madhyamaka, Abhidharma, and Vinaya), while also engaging in various spiritual practices. He successfully completed the full monastic course of education. From 2013 to 2019, he served as the Chant Master of Gaden Shartse Phukhang Khangtsen for six years.

Joe Benson – Site & Transportation Coordinator

Joe is a teacher, farmer, DJ, botanist and record collector based in Omaha, Nebraska. He completed a year-long residency at Big Muddy Urban Farm and as a fellow with the Center for Rural Affairs in collaboration with the State of Nebraska. During this fellowship, he explored various conservation practices and chose to focus on Hugelkultur, a sustainable gardening technique. Joe has started his own businesses with vinyl record sales and teaching prairie restoration and woodwork techniques. He is committed to sharing different cultural and learning styles, as well as lifelong learning. Joe has served as the monk driver for the last twelve years.

Meet the Team

  • Sej Saraiya

    DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

    Sej Saraiya is an interdisciplinary filmmaker and visual artist whose work explores cultural continuity, ecological consciousness, and no-duality/co-existence. She holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California and is known for immersive, ethically grounded storytelling rooted in long-term engagement with Indigenous and spiritual communities worldwide.

    Over the past decade, Saraiya has documented and collaborated with globally respected leaders including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Brazilian Indigenous leader Chief Raoni Metuktire, Huni Kuin leader Ninawa Pai da Mata, humanitarian Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, scholar Dr. Layla June, Apache activist Twila Cassadore, and artist Jordin Sparks. She has worked for organizations such as ANIWA (Indigenous Wisdom Alliance), the Indigenous Peoples Summit, the BOA Foundation, and American Airlines, reflecting a practice that bridges art, advocacy, and cross-cultural dialogue.

    Her award-winning short fiction films The Language They Spoke (2019) and The Curious Woods (2021) screened internationally and received over 30 awards, including Best Director and Best Environmental Film.

    In 2024, she founded and directed the World Culture Film Festival in Los Angeles, a platform dedicated to culturally rooted global cinema. She currently serves on the boards of ASMP and the Garifuna Indigenous International Film Festival, and regularly speaks on film as a tool for decolonization, cultural preservation, and environmental awareness.

    Based in Topanga, California, Saraiya’s films are built through proximity and trust. Rather than framing cultures from the outside, she creates space for audiences to witness lived experience with humility, depth, and sustained attention.

  • Pasha Teplo

    EDITOR, CINEMATOGRAPHER

    Pasha Teplo is a Los Angeles–based cinematographer and filmmaker whose work explores silence, nature, and the subtle emotional architecture of human experience. Influenced by the cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky and David Lynch, his visual language is meditative, poetic, and deeply attuned to atmosphere and feeling.

    His creative collaborations span music, narrative film, and social impact, including work with Grammy-winning bassist Stanley Clarke, artists such as Big Sean and Travis Scott, and humanitarian organizations including The Boa Foundation and Yangchenma Arts & Music and more. He has also collaborated with award-winning musicians, actors, and filmmakers including Simone Giuliani, Mustafa Shakir, Adam Roa, and Kira Kushnirova. Pasha has directed and shot over fifteen short films and one feature film, earning multiple awards for cinematography and editing.

    His most recent work as director of photography and editor, From Head to Heart, about Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living Foundation, and Out There Somewhere, featuring Devon Werkheiser and Maiarah Walsh, is currently in post-production. Grounded in a deep respect for the natural world and the lessons found in stillness, Pasha continues to evolve his craft with the intention of creating work that resonates quietly, lingers emotionally, and contributes meaningfully to human existence.

  • Simone Giuliani

    MUSIC COMPOSER

    Simone Giuliani is an Italian-born composer, arranger, producer, and pianist based in New York City. Originally from Florence, he began his career in the early 1990s as a keyboardist with the influential Italian punk band Diaframma before relocating to the United States, where he expanded into film scoring, orchestral arrangement, and music production.

    Giuliani has collaborated with internationally acclaimed artists including Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto, Gorillaz), Robert Sadin (Sting, Herbie Hancock), and Charles Curtis, and has contributed remixes and arrangements for artists such as Beyoncé, Maxwell, and Sia. His string arrangement work includes Ni Antes… Ni Después by Aneeka, whose debut received Latin Grammy and Lo Nuestro Award nominations. He has also worked on archival releases featuring Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Louis Armstrong.

    As a composer, Giuliani has created original music for film and major commercial campaigns, while maintaining an active performance career alongside artists including Jovanotti, DJ Logic & Wu-Tang Clan, Groove Collective, and members of Faithless and Björk’s extended musical circle.

    Beyond performance and composition, he is Director of Music Programs at MoMENT NYC and producer of Let’s Come Together, a musical peace initiative supporting UNHCR and global human rights efforts. He is also a contributing author to The Spiritual Significance of Music.

  • Roy Sun

    CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER

    Friendly, attentive, and always ready to help, our customer service manager ensures every interaction is a positive one. They keep communication clear, timely, and human.