narratives that conflict with its official version of events. “Leaving Fear Behind” featured ordinary Tibetans speaking openly about their misgivings at a time when much of the country was portrayed as ecstatic about the games.

The film was largely the handiwork of his friend Mr. Wangchen, a businessman and self-taught filmmaker who spent five months interviewing Tibetans about their lives under Chinese rule. The 40 hours of footage were condensed into a 25-minute film that focused on their frustrations over the flood of ethnic Han Chinese migrants to the region, the increasing limits on religion and their reverence for the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader whom Beijing considers an enemy of the state.

“We wanted to prove to the international community that the I.O.C. awarded the 2008 OlympicGames to China based on lies,” Golog Jigme said. “We wanted to fight against the Chinese government’s propaganda. What they said about Tibetans enjoying freedom and that Tibet is a harmonious community, were all lies.”

In March 2008, just days after the film was smuggled out of China, the authorities detained both men. Over the next 52 days, Golog Jigme said, he was tortured by the police, who wanted him to reveal the identities of the Tibetans who had spoken on camera.

“I even had to pretend that I didn’t know my father, who also appeared in the film,” said Golog Jigme, who said his interrogators hung him by his arms from the ceiling for hours while burning him with an electric baton.

Although he was eventually released, he was detained