Pema Tseden | པད་མ་ཚེ་བརྟན།
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"No matter whether it's through writing novels or making films, my ultimate goal is to create. Dealing with the topics that concern you personally makes you want to both express yourself through your work and document the way of life of Tibetans accurately." - Pema Tseden for China Film Insider (2017) |
Born to a nomadic family in Trika (Ch: Guide) County, Amdo, Tibet, writer and filmmaker Pema Tseden was the first Tibetan to study at the prestigious Beijing Film Academy and has become one of the foremost cultural producers for contemporary Tibet.
Widely recognized as the leading filmmaker of a newly emerging Tibetan cinema, Pema Tseden is the first Tibetan filmmaker in contemporary Tibet to make a film entirely in the Tibetan language, with a predominantly Tibetan crew. His subject is also consistent: the contemporary culture and life of Tibet, shot from within local society, a practice that consciously puts his films in deliberate contrast to the exoticizing fiction features about Tibet that have been produced by outsiders, both Chinese and foreign.
Before becoming a filmmaker, Tseden already published more than 50 short stories and novels both in Tibetan and Chinese; his work has won numerous awards including the Drang-char (sbrang-char) Tibetan Literature Prize and has been translated into English, French, and German. Tseden himself is one of Tibet’s most prolific translators today. Enticement, the first collection of his short stories edited and translated to English by Patricia Schiaffini-Vedani and Michael Monhart, was published in 2018.
His feature films, all of which have received great acclaim around the world and in the PRC, are The Grassland (2004), The Silent Holy Stones (2005), The Search (2009), Old Dog (2011), The Sacred Arrow (2014), Tharlo (2015) which was the first Tibetan film to be screened at the 2016 Venice Film Festival. Most recently, Jinpa (2018), produced by leading Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai, won Tseden the Best Screenplay prize during its premiere at the 2018 Venice Film Festival. Jinpa also received 6 nominations from the 13th Asian Film Awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Music. The awards will be announced on March 17, 2019 in Hong Kong. One of Pema Tseden’s most vital roles is as a mentor to the next generation of Tibetan filmmakers, encouraging a new groups of storytellers to reflect life in contemporary Tibet.
Widely recognized as the leading filmmaker of a newly emerging Tibetan cinema, Pema Tseden is the first Tibetan filmmaker in contemporary Tibet to make a film entirely in the Tibetan language, with a predominantly Tibetan crew. His subject is also consistent: the contemporary culture and life of Tibet, shot from within local society, a practice that consciously puts his films in deliberate contrast to the exoticizing fiction features about Tibet that have been produced by outsiders, both Chinese and foreign.
Before becoming a filmmaker, Tseden already published more than 50 short stories and novels both in Tibetan and Chinese; his work has won numerous awards including the Drang-char (sbrang-char) Tibetan Literature Prize and has been translated into English, French, and German. Tseden himself is one of Tibet’s most prolific translators today. Enticement, the first collection of his short stories edited and translated to English by Patricia Schiaffini-Vedani and Michael Monhart, was published in 2018.
His feature films, all of which have received great acclaim around the world and in the PRC, are The Grassland (2004), The Silent Holy Stones (2005), The Search (2009), Old Dog (2011), The Sacred Arrow (2014), Tharlo (2015) which was the first Tibetan film to be screened at the 2016 Venice Film Festival. Most recently, Jinpa (2018), produced by leading Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai, won Tseden the Best Screenplay prize during its premiere at the 2018 Venice Film Festival. Jinpa also received 6 nominations from the 13th Asian Film Awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Music. The awards will be announced on March 17, 2019 in Hong Kong. One of Pema Tseden’s most vital roles is as a mentor to the next generation of Tibetan filmmakers, encouraging a new groups of storytellers to reflect life in contemporary Tibet.