waiting

synopsis

Blaming his mother for the emotional neglect of his late father, Tenzin has spent years distancing himself from his family, burying his guilt in the high-stakes, hyper-capitalist world of New York finance. But when a reckless trade leaves his career in immediate ruin, Tenzin’s world begins to fracture.

That same night, following a shattering argument with his fiancée, Lhamo, at a restaurant, a spiraling Tenzin retreats to his empty office building. There, he meets Tashi, a cryptic night-shift custodian who bears an uncanny resemblance to a revered spiritual master.

When the custodian offers him a cup of traditional butter tea that tastes hauntingly of home, Tenzin is forced into a profound existential reckoning where the custodian’s sharp wit dismantles his defenses and forces him to face the devastating math of mortal time.

Mirroring the classic Tibetan Milarepa journey from destructive ambition to spiritual awakening, Waiting is a powerful exploration of how unresolved wounds distort reality, and how true forgiveness requires us to see past our own projections.

logline

After a reckless trade, an estranged Tibetan-American Wall Street trader undergoes a profound existential reckoning led by a cryptic night-shift custodian.

WATCH TRAILER  ---COMING SOON---

TSERING DORJEE BAWA

Tibetan-American actor, musician, and traditional opera performer. A graduate of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), Bawa’s distinguished film career includes roles in the Oscar-nominated Himalaya, Martin Scorsese’s Kundun, and the 2024 blockbuster hit Demonte Colony 2. A massive commercial success and one of the highest-grossing Tamil films globally.

He co-created the original soundtrack for the Emmy Award-winning documentary The Women of Tibet, was twice nominated for Outstanding Featured Performance for his work in the Off-Broadway production The Oldest Boy, and has frequently collaborated with Grammy-nominated Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal.

He will next be seen in Apple TV+’s highly anticipated biographical epic film Tenzing centered on Tenzing Norgay, the historic mountaineer to first summit Mount Everest.

LEADING CAST

DEKYI THONDEN GYALKHANG

A former government official, celebrated chef and the niece of the 5th Reting Rinpoche, (Thubten Jamphel Yeshe Gyaltsen) the Regent of Tibet who led the search that identified the 14th Dalai Lama. She is the real-life mother of filmmaker Rabyoung Thonden Gyalkhang, Dekyi makes her cinematic acting debut in Waiting, preparing for the role by studying acting at the University of Washington.

Prior to immigrating to the United States, Dekyi served as the Deputy Secretary of Finance for the Tibetan government-in-exile. Upon settling in the U.S., she launched a distinguished culinary career, blending traditional Lhasa-style Tibetan fine dining with modern fusion.

In 2011, The Seattle Times named her restaurant, Tingmomo, one of the city's top ten dining destinations. Throughout her culinary career, she collaborated with acclaimed celebrity chefs including Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau, and was featured on KOMO TV and the Food Network’s The United Tastes of America before retiring in 2018.

RABYOUNG THONDEN GYALKHANG

Tibetan-American filmmaker, actor, and martial artist holding a Ni Dan rank (second-degree black belt) in Goju-Ryu Karate. Born in Dharamshala, India, he immigrated to the U.S. at sixteen. After college, he spent eight years working within a private hedge fund before pivoting to his true creative calling in cinema and multimedia design.

His previous credits include writing, producing, and directing the 2007 documentary Blood Over Nangpa La and co-starring in the 2019 feature film The Sweet Requiem (TIFF Official Selection).

His latest short, WAITING, is a cinematic proof-of-concept for a completed feature script, directly reflecting his journey through the corporate financial landscape and his enduring ties to Tibetan tradition. Bringing his multidisciplinary skillset to the project, Gyalkhang serves as the film's writer, director, producer, editor, VFX artist, and lead actor.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

An internationally acclaimed, award-winning filmmaking team. Together, they have directed and produced a globally celebrated body of work, including the seminal documentary The Sun Behind the Clouds and the critically acclaimed feature films Dreaming Lhasa and The Sweet Requiem (an Official Selection at the Toronto International Film Festival).

As pioneering titans and leading voices in contemporary independent and Tibetan cinema, they guided Waiting from its initial script development phase, ensuring the project's profound cultural depth and sharp thematic resonance.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

As a Tibetan filmmaker who worked for eight years within a private hedge fund, I wanted to explore a friction I know intimately: the collision between the secular, linear anxieties of Western capitalism and the cyclical, spiritual depth of my heritage.

The emotional core of Waiting is deeply personal. Having navigated the devastating loss of my own father, I wanted to examine how grief and unresolved trauma distort our closest relationships. The protagonist, Tenzin, is a modern iteration of the classic Tibetan epic of Milarepa. His journey is marked by destructive choices, profound regret, and a desperate search for realization. Operating in a world of calculated risks at Dablam Capital, Tenzin uses his career as a shield to avoid confronting his deep-seated resentment toward his mother. The irony is deliberate; "Dablam" means a mother’s amulet necklace. The very corporate walls he hides behind are named after the maternal connection he is trying to escape.

Visually, Waiting juxtaposes these two worlds, moving from the cold blues and claustrophobic framing of Wall Street to the warm, textured spaces of traditional Tibetan practice. To capture Tenzin's internal fractures, the same actor portrays both the revered Rinpoche his mother visits and the corporate night-shift custodian, Tashi. Blurring reality and psychological projection, Tashi offers Tenzin a traditional wooden cup (phor-pa) of butter tea that instantly transports him back to his roots. 

Waiting is a meditation on memory, guilt, and the relentless nature of time. It is a cautionary tale inviting us to mend our broken connections before the door closes for good, while serving as a proof-of-concept for a completed, full-length feature script.

CREDITS

Graphic Designer

JIGME TASHI

BTS Photographer

JOHN CURRY

Art Production Assistants

HANK GROAT
MAILE QUENZER
JANIE ACKELS

Production Assistants

ALEEN MATIOSSIAN
ZACK JOHNSON

Production Service Provided by

OFFBEAT FILMS

Equipment Venders

KOERNER CAMERAS SYSTEMS

RYAN ZEMPKE

GLAZER'S CAMERA

XANDER BRUCE

Post Production
EMAGE CUBE STUDIOs

Produced by

THOMAS ACKELS
KELSI LINDUS

Director of Photography

DANNY CHASTAIN

VFX / Sound Design / Color / Edited by

RABYOUNG THONDEN GYALKHANG

Production Designer

MONTANA TIPPET

Costume Designer

RONALD LEAMON

Music by

JEREMY EUSEBIO

VFX Advisor

RYAN KIM LI

SPECIAL THANKS

MONKS OF DAKYAP MONASTERY (SOUTH INDIA)

KHENPO JAMPA TENPHEL RINGZEN TINGKHYE

M5 CREATIVE MUSIC FOR THE EYES SAKYA MONASTERY (SeaTTLE, USA) PEMA KHARPO

ALL THE BACKGROUND PERFORMERS.


FILMED ON LOCATION IN THE EMERALD CITY OF SEATTLE, WA

GYALKHANG FILMS PRESENTS

A BLACK TENT VALLEY PRODUCTION "WAITING"
IN ASSOCIATION WITH OFFBEAT FILMS

VERY SPECIAL THANKS

CASEY FARIS KYLER BOUDREAU GRAHAM HUNT JASON YADLOVSKI

CAST

(in order of appearance)

DEKYI THONDEN GYALKHANG

RABYOUNG THONDEN GYALKHANG

TSERING DORJEE BAWA

TENZING KALDEN

Written / Directed / Produced by

RABYOUNG THONDEN GYALKHANG

Executive Producers

TENZING SONAM

RITU SARIN

DEKYI THONDEN GYALKHANG

Executive Producers
TENZIN THONDEN GYALKHANG
NYIMA TSENPON MENAKHANG
DAWA SONGTZEN MENAKHANG
MIGMAR DETSEN KHANGSAR
LHAKPA RALPCHEN KHANGSAR
THOMAS ACKELS
DANNY CHASTAIN

CREW

First Assistant Directors

TAYLOR PEDROZA
THOMAS ACKELS

First Assistant Camera

ADAM LAPINE
SANDRA GARCIA

Gaffer

ALEXANDER BRUCE

Key Grip

SCOTT CALVERT
TONY MIHOVILOVICH

Grip

MALLORY GILLIN

Production Sound Mixer

DAYAMI-LIZ VIDAL

Set Dresser

JESSICA CLEMENT

Wardrobe Stylist

GERARD PARR

Hair & Makeup

LINDSEY WATKINS

technical specIFICATIONs

Genre: Drama

Country of Origin: United States of America

Language: Tibetan and English (with English Subtitles)

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (Matted)

Frame Rate: 23.97 fps

Format: Arri Alexa 4K ProRes

Sound: Stereo Mix

WAITING - coming soon!

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UPCOMING PROJECT

location

INQUIRES

Phoenix, AZ Seattle, WA