For the complete retrospective of the films of Pema Tseden that I’ve curated for TIFF Cinematheque in Toronto, I’ve written a brief introductory essay on his work, and capsule descriptions of the 8 features and two shorts that we are showing in Toronto. This retrospective, if all goes well, will travel to several other venues in 2025: the Harvard Film Archive, the National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian Institution, and at the VIFF Centre in Vancouver. I’m open to other suggestions – Shelly Kraicer <shellyk@mac.com> (Toronto, Canada)
Source: TIFF.net
Compassionate Light: Stories of Tibet by Pema Tseden
By Shelly Kraicer
Tibetan director Pema Tseden (1969–2023) became, during his all-too-short life, one of the most remarkable filmmakers of this century. He revolutionized the representation of Tibet and Tibetans and shared his visions of authentic Tibetan life with the entire film-going world by reimagining how narrative cinematic fiction could operate within so-called “Chinese minority cinema”. His alterative formal strategies and narrative framings were inspired by the contemporary lived experience of Tibetans, centering in his works their culture, language, religion, and ways of inhabiting and interpreting their world.
Pema Tseden died mid-career, at the age of 53. Born to farmer-herder parents in the Tibetan highlands of Qinghai Province, China, he went to rural schools and trained as a teacher. After studying Tibetan literature at Northwest Minorities University, he discovered a passion for making films. A scholarship enabled him to enrol in the prestigious Beijing Film Academy (BFA), where he studied screenwriting and film directing. He was the first Tibetan to graduate from the BFA in 2004. Since 1991, he has published short stories in both Chinese and Tibetan that use humour and a seemingly simple yet eloquent style to depict aspects of contemporary Tibetan life. Continue reading Pema Tseden retrospective