On March 9 at Santa Fe University of Art and Design’s Marion Center for Photographic Arts, 17 students gathered with actor-filmmaker and philanthropist Robert Redford, artist Sibylle Szaggars-Redford and the scholarship’s program director, Kathleen Broyles.

Jackalope Magazine interviews consultant Charles Restivo, who is leading SFUAD’s upcoming ownership transition.

“Listening to that music, I have a scene playing out in my head.” Lobsang Tenzin regards the pianist who has been playing at Iconic Coffee brewery. We sit down to speak about Tenzin’s life and I learn about Tenzin, passionate storyteller. “I am always listening and imagining the stories with music in my life,” he says. “Even the birds or the leaves blowing make up scenes.” Tenzin was born in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. He fled from his country in order to escape the tyrannical government that offered very little freedoms for its people. “Both my parents were activists and I was too. I got in a lot of trouble,” Tenzin says with a smile. “People always say that Tibet is so beautiful as a landscape, as a people and as a culture. But the inside is so sad. There is no human right, no religious right, no educational rights and it’s so hard. I had to escape from Tibet. It is impossible to go back.” He ended up fleeing the country, and is now studying film at SFUAD after transferring from the Portland Community College with a bachelor’s degree in Integrated Media. Tenzin received SFUAD’s 2014 Unique Voice Scholarship through the Robert Redford/Milagro Initiative scholarship program. Jackalope Magazine: What does film mean to you? Lobsang Tenzin: For me, it’s more like a tool or a weapon in order to tell my people’s culture and stories. Now these days, all the older people from the older generations, they are wrinkled and dying, I want to keep all the wrinkles and grab all the stories that they have as much as possible. I can make short films and documentaries for the next generations; even if they don’t see these people, they will know their stories. It just keeps on passing; it must never vanish.   JM: How would you define your style? LT: I’m like a Marine, and I think of myself like a sniper. My job is to shoot. I always shoot, even when I’m not working. I’ll shoot the leaves moving in the grass. I build up all the different shots and store them so I don’t have to go looking every time. If I want to make a small story I can just use the shots I already have. I can pick anything when I work.   JM: Have you considered what exactly you want to focus on in the film school? LT: For me, it’s about the images. I want to be a cinematographer. But the way I see it, if I want to be a chef, I start from the dish washer. I need to understand how everything works. This semester I’m not taking any big production classes. I’m just taking some normal classes in order to understand this university. I don’t want to get too stressed out this semester. I am taking Native American Arts and History of Contemporary Art.   JM: Can you tell us a little bit about how you came to this university in particular? LT: I was still studying at my other college in Portland. One of my professors asked me if I wanted to act. She introduced me to the director and he said I was perfect for the cast. They offered to give me acting classes for one year, Meisner acting classes to learn to work in front of the camera. I learned so many things. So basically I was always behind the camera and now I’m facing the camera. You have to give the perfect shot. So I was doing that while in school and the director of the film asked what I had planned once I graduated with an Integrated Media degree. He told me to look at Santa Fe University of Art and Design. He gave me the information and he even contacted the school for the Robert Redford scholarship. I then got my portfolio together, all...