Still images from Pema Tseden's latest film Jinpa, which will be released for general screening on the mainland on April 26. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Tibetan director Pema Tseden's latest movie is a tale of redemption set against the stunning backdrop of the Hoh Xil nature reserve, Xu Fan reports.
Softly spoken, wearing glasses and occasionally prone to pondering, director Pema Tseden may look more like a scholar than a filmmaker, but for years the auteur has been keen on telling stories about ethnic Tibetan life in his own stylishly avant-garde way.
With iconic Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai as the executive producer, Tseden's latest and sixth feature film Jinpa was recently released at the ongoing 9th Beijing International Film Festival and will go on general release across the Chinese mainland on April 26.
Also as his second feature to go on theatrical release, Jinpa received wide international acclaim, exemplified by its award for best screenplay at the Orizzonti (Horizons) program of the 75th Venice International Film Festival in September.
Set in the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve, which has an average elevation of around 5,000 meters, the film recounts the metaphorical story about a Tibetan trucker called Jinpa who accidentally kills a sheep with his vehicle. He then picks up a hitchhiker of the same name, who happens to be on his way to revenge the death of his father.
Still images from Pema Tseden's latest film Jinpa, which will be released for general screening on the mainland on April 26. [Photo provided to China Daily]
The film is adapted from two novels. One is The Slayer by Tibetan writer Tsering Norbu, and the other is Tseden's own story, I Ran Over a Sheep.
"When I read The Slayer from Selected Stories (a monthly magazine publishing literary works), I was fascinated with its narration and the protagonist's way of seeking revenge," Tseden tells China Daily at his Beijing apartment.
But The Slayer, which consists of a few thousand words, was a bit too short to be adapted into a feature-length film.
"It takes place on the road where the lead character is a truck driver. So, the novel reminded me of my own story I Ran Over a Sheep, which also features a similar theme about redemption and savior. So, I combined the two stories to come up with the script for Jinpa," he says.
Just like most art house films, raising enough money to start filming was the main challenge.
The idea of the film was first conceived in 2000, but Tseden had been struggling to raise adequate funds to make it until 2017, when Jet Tone Films, the studio owned by Wong, agreed to finance and produce the film.
Tseden says Wong kept up discussions with him as they worked on polishing the script, and suggested they add a Tibetan proverb to make the mystical story more easily understood.
Pema Tseden, film director [Photo provided to China Daily]
"If I tell you my dream, you might forget it. If I act on my dream, perhaps you will remember it," the director whispers the proverb, which can be heard as a voice-over line in the movie trailer.
Interestingly, the protagonist trucker wears sunglasses almost all the way through the course of the film, which is reminiscent of Wong's trademark look. The celebrated director is never seen in public without his sunglasses.
"The prop of the sunglasses is an important way to reflect the character's emotions. Although the detail has nothing to do with Wong, you could translate it as a tribute to him," says Tseden.
A combination of color and black-and-white scenes, the 87-minute feature is screened in a 4:3 aspect ratio, similar to the old TV format but squarer than the present-day silver screen.
"The ratio really suits the atmosphere of the story, which we wanted to give an experimental and pioneering quality," explains Tseden.
A native of Hainan Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Qinghai, Tseden established his fame first as a novelist in the early 1990s but switched his focus to cinema following his directorial debut The Silent Holy Stones in 2006. Most of Tseden's films are based on his own novels or have scripts written by him.
With award-winning films including Old Dog (2011) and Tharlo (2015), Tseden is considered as one of the most prominent directors from the "Tibetan new wave", the group of emerging filmmakers over the past decade.
Speaking about his persistence with art house films and their perpetual struggle for market recognition, he says: "At my age, I just want to keep doing what I love to do. The market for art house films is a niche one. But you can see that changes are taking place, as art house films attract more and more moviegoers."
