Guge Productions will release Ngawang Choephel’s documentary Tibet In Song in New York on September 24 ahead of a nationwide roll-out.

The film charts what happened after the director, a Tibetan native who fled his country of origin for India at the age of two, returned from exile in 1995.

Choephel planned to make a film about Tibetan music and was promptly arrested by Chinese authorities on charges of espionage. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for allegedly collecting sensitive material on China and jeopardising national security.

The film-maker got out of prison in 2002 following an international effort to secure his release that was supported by the then Vice President Al Gore, Paul McCartney, and Annie Lennox, among others.