(TibetanReview.net, Nov04’23) – The film Snow Leopard, directed by late Tibetan writer-director Pema Tseden, has won the Tokyo Grand Prix at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival (Oct 23-Nov 01) as his son Jigme Trinley’s debut film was released to domestic acclaim on Oct 27, reported globaltimes.cn Nov 2 and chinadaily.com.cn Nov 1.
Snow Leopard was Pema Tseden’s last film before he passed away suddenly due to an illness while shooting in central Tibet in May this year.
Born in Dec 1969 in Guide (Tibetan: Trika) County of Hainan (Tsolho) Prefecture, Qinghai province, Pema Tseden is recognized as a pioneer of Tibetan-language films. Several of films have won fame and recognition, including the 2018 film Jinpa and the 2019 film Balloon.
He was also an award-winning novelist, with his work having been translated into English, French, German, Japanese and Czech languages. He was a professor at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, and a member of the China Film Directors’ Guild as well.
Snow Leopard, a family drama, was Pema Tseden’s eighth Tibetan-language film. It explores the close association between humans and animals through a story in which a snow leopard kills nine of a sheepherder’s flock. The film delves into the differing perspectives of various individuals regarding whether to release the snow leopard after it gets trapped in the sheep pen.
The film was shot over a period of three years at the scenic Donggi Cona Lake in Madoi (Matoe) county in Guoluo (Golog) prefecture of Qinghai Province.
Jigme Trinley, Pema Tseden’s son and assistant director on Snow Leopard, has said his father’s works had always told stories of the culture and life of Tibetan people, and how modern civilization has been impacting and integrating into their lives and thinking.
He has said Snow Leopard was considered a significant breakthrough in Pema Tseden’s filmmaking journey, embodying his new understanding of life, the world, and Tibetan culture.
Jigme Trinley has made his own directorial debut with his film One and Four released to domestic acclaim on Oct 27.
Adapted from Tibetan writer Chiangyong Tsering’s novella of the same name, the film follows a ranger working in a forest on the Tibetan Plateau who becomes accidentally entangled in a deadly conflict between forest police and poachers one stormy night.
The movie earned a nomination at the 34th Tokyo International Film Festival in 2021, making Trinley — then a fresh Beijing Film Academy graduate — the youngest director to be shortlisted for the festival’s main competition, said the chinadaily.com.cn report.
Critics have commented that the movie successfully combines several major genres, including crime and suspense, achieving a breakthrough in Tibetan film, the report said.