ITHACA, N.Y. -- Every spring, the Tibetan refugee community in Ithaca celebrates its culture and history. This year Cornell University is joining the celebration with Tibet Weeks, a series of events from Monday, April 7, through Saturday April 19.

The Cornell East Asia Program and Students for a Free Tibet have scheduled Tibetan-related films, guest speakers and family-oriented events. The program is designed to celebrate Tibetan culture while educating the public on the continuing political and social concerns of the Tibetan community here and abroad.

Among the highlights of Tibet Weeks is a public talk by Palden Gyatso, a Tibetan monk and well-known human rights activist who spent 33 years in Chinese prisons. Gyatso, 64, will discuss his experiences and that of other Tibetans Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. in Anabel Taylor Hall auditorium. Other key events includes a presentation titled "A Rare Look at Tibet in the 1930s," a collection of unusual archival footage compiled as part of the Himalaya Project, to be shown in Uris Hall Room G-08. A Tibetan puppet show, "The Gift of the Naga King," will be performed at the Robert Purcell Community Center on campus Saturday, April 19, at 10 a.m. The film, the talks and the show are free and open to the public.

In addition, three screenings of the documentary film "Tibet: The Cry of the Snow Lion," chronicling the current situation in Tibet, will be shown by Cornell Cinema Saturday, April 12, at 7:15 p.m., on Sunday, April 13, at 4:30 p.m., and on Tuesday, April 15, at 7:15 p.m. For ticket information contact Cornell Cinema at http://cinema.cornell.edu .

For a complete listing of Tibet Weeks events visit the Web site http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/eastasia/news/index.asp?id=427 or call David Patt, East Asia Program outreach coordinator, at (607) 255-8366 or e-mail dp228@cornell.edu .