Pema Tseden (), also called Wanma Tsaidan (; born December 1969), is a Tibetan film director and screenwriter of Chinese citizenship. He is a member of the

China Film Directors' Guild China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

China Film Association China Film Association is a subordinate of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC). Founded in July 1949, the organisation was initially named the China National Film Artists Association. In 1979, it was renamed the China Film As ...

and Chinese Film Literature Association.

Biography

Early life and education

Pema Tseden was born into a pastoral family, in

Guide County Guide County is a county in the east of Qinghai Province, China. It is under the administration of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. In Tibetan it's known as Trika. In 2015 it had a population of 108,800, of which 37.8% Tibetans, and 16.1% o ...

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

, in December 1969, during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. He is the only one of three siblings to have finished school. He graduated from

Northwest University for Nationalities Northwest Minzu University (), formerly known as Northwest University for Nationalities, is the first minority institution of higher learning founded in China after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, directly under the State Ethn ...

, where he majored in Tibetan Language and Literature. After graduation, he worked as a primary school teacher and a civil servant. Then he pursued advanced studies at China's most prestigious film school,

Beijing Film Academy Beijing Film Academy (BFA; ) is a coeducational state-run higher education institution in Beijing, China. The film school is the largest institution specializing in the tertiary education for film and television production in Asia. The academy h ...

, where he became the Academy's first-ever Tibetan student.

Career

Pema Tseden's debut work, ''

The Silent Holy Stones ''The Silent Holy Stones'' () is a 2006 Tibetan feature film written and directed by Pema Tseden. ''The Silent Holy Stones'' is about the tale of a young Lama who comes from a remote monastery is enthusiastic about life, eager to learn, and curious ...

'', won the Best Directorial Debut at the 25th Golden Rooster Awards, Asian New Talent Award for Best Director at the 9th

Shanghai International Film Festival The Shanghai International Film Festival (, French: ''Festival international du film de Shanghai''), abbreviated SIFF, is one of the largest film festivals in East Asia. "China's biggest film festival" according to the Hollywood Reporter. Nex ...

, Special Jury Award at the 8th

Changchun Film Festival The Changchun Film Festival (中国长春电影节) is a biennial international film festival held in the Chinese city of Changchun. Ostensibly international, its award for best film, the Golden Deer has nevertheless primarily been awarded to Chin ...

, and Best First Feature at the 13th

Beijing College Student Film Festival Beijing College Student Film Festival, first held in 1993, is an annual event organized by Beijing Normal University and Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio, Film and Television. It is held in April or May, and is one of the biggest film festivals i ...

. In 2009, '' Soul Searching'' won the Special Jury Award at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival and was nominated for Golden Goblet Award. ''

Tharlo ''Tharlo'' ( zh, 塔洛) is a 2015 Chinese Tibetan-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Pema Tseden. It premiered in the Horizons section at the 72nd edition of the Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice Intern ...

'', a film adaptation based on the novel of the same name by himself, won the Best Adapted Screenplay at the 52nd

Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is u ...

, it also prizes in the 23rd Beijing College Student Film Festival, and the film was nominated for

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

at the

72nd Venice International Film Festival The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition. A restored version of Federico Fellini's film ''Amarcord'' was shown at the ...

. Two colleagues reported that Pema Tseden had been detained at Qinghai airport by police in late June 2016 and was hospitalised after having been subjected to all-night interrogation.

Filmography

Film

Bibliography

*''Enticement: Stories of Tibet'', translated by Patricia Schiaffini-Vedani and Michael Monhart, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press

Awards

References

External links

*
The Doctor
by Pema Tseden. * Thomas Sotinel

''Le Monde'', 16 août 2009 * Tenzing Sonam, ''Une tempête tranquille: Pema Tseden et l'émergence du cinéma tibétain'', Monde chinois n° 31 (Automne 2012) Tibet : créer pour résister
''The Search''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tseden, Pema 1969 births People from Hainan Prefecture Living people Northwest University for Nationalities alumni Beijing Film Academy alumni Film directors from Qinghai Screenwriters from Qinghai