Mountain Lake PBS has claimed a second Emmy statuette for a documentary. The film Arts in Exile: Tibetan Treasures in Small Town America won in the “Outstanding Documentary” category at the 39th Boston/New England Regional Emmy Awards ceremony this month. This marks the second Emmy win for arts producer Paul Larson, whose last major documentary also took home the award. Larson shares the award with the director of photography Daniel McCullum and editor Michael C. Hansen.

Arts in Exile chronicles the creation of the Tibetan arts festival held last fall in Plattsburgh, exploring how the city in northern New York was inspired by the culture of Tibet from across the globe. The documentary examines how several Tibetan refugees use the arts to raise awareness about the global problems they face and to keep their culture alive.

The program features insight from Tibet House President Dr. Robert Thurman, and the talents of photographer Sonam Zoksang, who owns a Tibetan store in Lake Placid, freedom singer Techung, who lives in Lake Placid, and many other visual artists and performers.

Arts in Exile producer Paul Larson took home a regional Emmy for his 2013 documentary Songs to Keep: Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector, which also included the talents of videographer Daniel McCullum.

The Arts in Exile documentary is one component of the 2015 Festival of Tibetan Arts & Culture of the Adirondack Coast. The festival, organized in part by restaurant owners Tenzin and Yangchen Dorjee and SUNY Anthropology Professor Amy Mountcastle, included performances by the Adirondack Youth Orchestra, an exhibition at SUNY Plattsburgh, and the creation of a tile mural led by artist Sue Burdick Young and the Plattsburgh Renewal Project with support from the Strand Center for the Arts. This festival was funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts.

This multi-partner, collaborative community initiative was envisioned and facilitated in large part by Janine Scherline, Director of Development at Mountain Lake PBS, who also served as the grant writer, through the Regional Economic Development Council Consolidated Funding Process.

Arts in Exile: Tibetan Treasures in Small Town America tied with Omaha Beach Honor and Sacrifice from the World War II Foundation/Ocean State Video for the Emmy, in a contest among six nominated documentaries. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences distributes Regional Emmy Awards in 20 regions across the United States. Also this spring, Arts in Exile received a New York State Broadcasters Association award in the “Outstanding Documentary” category.

To celebrate the Emmy win, Mountain Lake PBS will air Arts in Exile on Friday, July 8 at 10pm, Sunday, July 10 at 6pm, and Wednesday, July 13 at noon.

More information about Arts in Exile: Tibetan Treasures in Small Town America can be found here.

Photo: Editor Michael C. Hansen, producer, writer and director Paul Larson, and director of photography Daniel McCullum (photo by Jean Ulysse).