by Cláudio Alves
Vast wild landscapes dominated the latter half of my second day at TIFF. First came Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, fresh off its Venice premiere and inflated by high expectations. Then, it was time for Snow Leopard, the last completed film of Pema Tseden, the remarkable Tibetan director who dedicated himself to expressing his country’s specificities on the big screen. He died in May at 53, leaving behind a body of work that felt like it was just entering its golden age with titles like Jinpa and Balloon. And so, an air of mournfulness enveloped the screening of his leopard-loving film, a poem of snowy peaks and the beasts that share them...
Vast wild landscapes dominated the latter half of my second day at TIFF. First came Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, fresh off its Venice premiere and inflated by high expectations. Then, it was time for Snow Leopard, the last completed film of Pema Tseden, the remarkable Tibetan director who dedicated himself to expressing his country’s specificities on the big screen. He died in May at 53, leaving behind a body of work that felt like it was just entering its golden age with titles like Jinpa and Balloon. And so, an air of mournfulness enveloped the screening of his leopard-loving film, a poem of snowy peaks and the beasts that share them...
- 9/10/2023
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
Dukar Tserang is the best known as one of the most influential score composers and sound guys of the Tibetan cinema scene, with a dozen credits to his name, including the work on Pema Tseden’s “Jinpa” (2018). For Dukar, “A Song for You” is a step towards the unknown waters of filmmaking and directing, so it should not raise many eyebrows that he has picked up a topic that concerns his primary field. The film premiered at Pingyao International Film Festival last year, and was also screened at Osaka Asian Film Festival and the virtual June edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam, where we caught it in Harbour programme. The names of its producer (Jia Zhangke) and executive producer (Pema Tseden) should secure it more festival bookings in the near future.
Only the Winds is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam
The story follows Ngawang (Damtin Tserang), a young folk...
Only the Winds is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam
The story follows Ngawang (Damtin Tserang), a young folk...
- 6/9/2021
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
Is your at-home streaming slowing down now that everyone else in your neighborhood is also at home, streaming? May we suggest good old, reliable physical media?
New Indie
We need to stop acting surprised when Adam Sandler gives a powerful performance, as he does in the Safdie brothers’ “Uncut Gems” (Lionsgate); great work pops up throughout his career, from “Punch-Drunk Love” to “The Meyerowitz Stories.” Granted, whereas some movie stars take a “one for them, one for me” approach to balancing popcorn fare with arthouse titles, Sandler is more “ten for them, one for me”; if a great Sandler performance needn’t elicit shock anymore, it should bring up a touch of sadness for the career that might have been.
If you haven’t seen “Good Time” or other earlier Safdie movies, you might not be prepared for their brand of anxious, cinematic-panic-attack filmmaking. “Uncut Gems” will make you uneasy,...
New Indie
We need to stop acting surprised when Adam Sandler gives a powerful performance, as he does in the Safdie brothers’ “Uncut Gems” (Lionsgate); great work pops up throughout his career, from “Punch-Drunk Love” to “The Meyerowitz Stories.” Granted, whereas some movie stars take a “one for them, one for me” approach to balancing popcorn fare with arthouse titles, Sandler is more “ten for them, one for me”; if a great Sandler performance needn’t elicit shock anymore, it should bring up a touch of sadness for the career that might have been.
If you haven’t seen “Good Time” or other earlier Safdie movies, you might not be prepared for their brand of anxious, cinematic-panic-attack filmmaking. “Uncut Gems” will make you uneasy,...
- 3/31/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Helsinki Cine Aasia 2020 celebrates versatile Asian cinema
Celebrating its eighth edition, Helsinki Cine Aasia is the only festival of contemporary Asian cinema in Finland. This year the festival hosts the Finnish premieres of 18 films from eight East and Southeast Asian countries. In addition, a series of classic films based on traditional East Asian theater is screened at Kino Regina. Helsinki Cine Aasia takes place at Korjaamo, Kino Regina and Cinema Orion from Thursday March 12 to Sunday March 15, 2020.
Helsinki Cine Aasia 2020 opens with the Tibetan film “Balloon”. The latest film from Tibet’s best-known filmmaker Pema Tseden has already won accolades at several film festivals, including Venice and Chicago, as well as the main prize at Tokyo FILMeX. Set in Tibet in the 1980’s during the one-child policy, the warm-hearted and slightly humorous film illustrates the difficulties of combining the traditional with the modern. A Buddhist couple raising a herd of...
Celebrating its eighth edition, Helsinki Cine Aasia is the only festival of contemporary Asian cinema in Finland. This year the festival hosts the Finnish premieres of 18 films from eight East and Southeast Asian countries. In addition, a series of classic films based on traditional East Asian theater is screened at Kino Regina. Helsinki Cine Aasia takes place at Korjaamo, Kino Regina and Cinema Orion from Thursday March 12 to Sunday March 15, 2020.
Helsinki Cine Aasia 2020 opens with the Tibetan film “Balloon”. The latest film from Tibet’s best-known filmmaker Pema Tseden has already won accolades at several film festivals, including Venice and Chicago, as well as the main prize at Tokyo FILMeX. Set in Tibet in the 1980’s during the one-child policy, the warm-hearted and slightly humorous film illustrates the difficulties of combining the traditional with the modern. A Buddhist couple raising a herd of...
- 2/26/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
After roaming for more than a year on the international festival circuit, “Jinpa” — the latest effort from Tibetan director Pema Tseden — has finally launched a limited run in U.S. art houses, where it might find an appreciative if occasionally perplexed audience for its idiosyncratic mix of deadpan wit and understated mysticism. The movie is by repeatedly hinting at a potential for melodramatic upheaval. Ultimately, however, Tseden finds an audaciously different way to pull the rug out from under us.
Set in the rugged territory of the Kekexili Plateau, an isolated Tibetan region with an average elevation of more than 16,000 meters, “Jinpa” begins by introducing us to its title character, a grizzled long-distance trucker (played by an actor whose name also is Jinpa), as he traverses a seemingly endless road across a spectacularly barren landscape. He appears genuinely upset by the prospect of bad karma when he accidentally rolls over,...
Set in the rugged territory of the Kekexili Plateau, an isolated Tibetan region with an average elevation of more than 16,000 meters, “Jinpa” begins by introducing us to its title character, a grizzled long-distance trucker (played by an actor whose name also is Jinpa), as he traverses a seemingly endless road across a spectacularly barren landscape. He appears genuinely upset by the prospect of bad karma when he accidentally rolls over,...
- 2/24/2020
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
Helsinki Cine Aasia will once again bring the best of contemporary Asian cinema to Helsinki in March. The festival opens with the award-winning Tibetan film Balloon.
The only festival of contemporary Asian cinema in Finland, Helsinki Cine Aasia, is celebrating its eighth edition between Thursday March 12th and Sunday March 15th, 2020. Through the festival selection, Helsinki Cine Aasia’s audience is provided with a view to current Asian cinema as well as the Asian cultures in a broader sense. The program consists of a selection of the most interesting, acclaimed and popular films from East and Southeast Asia over the past year.
Opening film: Traditional and modern collide in Tibet
Helsinki Cine Aasia’s opening film is Balloon (Qi qiu, 2019), the latest work from one of Tibet’s best-known filmmakers, Pema Tseden. “We are excited to bring rarely seen Tibetan cinema to Helsinki,” says festival director Eija Niskanen. “Films set...
The only festival of contemporary Asian cinema in Finland, Helsinki Cine Aasia, is celebrating its eighth edition between Thursday March 12th and Sunday March 15th, 2020. Through the festival selection, Helsinki Cine Aasia’s audience is provided with a view to current Asian cinema as well as the Asian cultures in a broader sense. The program consists of a selection of the most interesting, acclaimed and popular films from East and Southeast Asia over the past year.
Opening film: Traditional and modern collide in Tibet
Helsinki Cine Aasia’s opening film is Balloon (Qi qiu, 2019), the latest work from one of Tibet’s best-known filmmakers, Pema Tseden. “We are excited to bring rarely seen Tibetan cinema to Helsinki,” says festival director Eija Niskanen. “Films set...
- 2/14/2020
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Across Asia Film Festival (Aaff) in Cagliari, in the beautiful Italian island of Sardinia, is back on the 14th of December with a Programme focused mainly on the Philippines and Taiwan, including collateral events, guests and some interesting gems, like a restored edition of the classic Lino Brocka’s “Manila in the Claws of Light”, a Masterclass with directors Shireen Seno and John Torres and the Italian Premiere of “The Kalampag Tracking Agency” an ongoing curatorial initiative between Shireen Seno of Los Otros and Merv Espina of Generation Loss.
Across Asia Film Festival is focused on most interesting languages of recent cinematographic production from Asia, with the goal of promoting and developing cultural exchanges between Italian and foreigners communities. Stefano Galanti and Maria Paola Zedda are the creators and the artistic directors of the event.
“Nina Wu” by Midi Z
The Festival will kick off with “The Night of the...
Across Asia Film Festival is focused on most interesting languages of recent cinematographic production from Asia, with the goal of promoting and developing cultural exchanges between Italian and foreigners communities. Stefano Galanti and Maria Paola Zedda are the creators and the artistic directors of the event.
“Nina Wu” by Midi Z
The Festival will kick off with “The Night of the...
- 12/6/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Straying quite far away in terms of aesthetics from the multi-awarded “Tharlo”, Pema Tseden directs a much more approachable film that lingers between the road movie and the western, before it concludes in complete deliriousness. Let us take things from the beginning, though.
“Jinpa” is screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival
The story takes place in Kekexili, a secluded area in Tibet which is considered the largest and highest plateau in the world. The protagonist, Jinpa, is a truck driver dressed like a rock star, who listens to classical music in his car as he carries his cargo across the barren roads of the area. Two occurrences, however, completely change his fate. The first one takes place when he hits a stray sheep on the road, killing it and eventually taking it with him, and the second when he picks up a young man who is hitching a ride,...
“Jinpa” is screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival
The story takes place in Kekexili, a secluded area in Tibet which is considered the largest and highest plateau in the world. The protagonist, Jinpa, is a truck driver dressed like a rock star, who listens to classical music in his car as he carries his cargo across the barren roads of the area. Two occurrences, however, completely change his fate. The first one takes place when he hits a stray sheep on the road, killing it and eventually taking it with him, and the second when he picks up a young man who is hitching a ride,...
- 11/19/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
As a novelist and a filmmaker, Pema Tseden is probably one of the key figures in the contemporary Tibetan culture. His newest film, “Balloon” (“Qiqiu” in the original) is kinda connected to his previous works, especially with “Tharlo” (2015) and his previous award-winning Venice title “Jinpa” (2018), at least through his “house actor” Jinpa and the topics revolving around Buddhist religion, mysticism and philosophy. However, “Balloon” has another, quite this-worldly, realistic layer to it: the examination of One-child Policy from a distinctly Tibetan point of view. The film, like its predecessor, has premiered recently at Orizzonti competition of the 76th edition of Venice Film Festival.
“Balloon” is screening at
Venice International Film Festival 2019
The story follows a family living alone on the vast plateau surrounded by their prized sheep. It consists of an ailing grandfather (Konchok), a father named Dargye (Jinpa), a mother Drolkar (Sonam Wangmo) and their two mischievous sons who...
“Balloon” is screening at
Venice International Film Festival 2019
The story follows a family living alone on the vast plateau surrounded by their prized sheep. It consists of an ailing grandfather (Konchok), a father named Dargye (Jinpa), a mother Drolkar (Sonam Wangmo) and their two mischievous sons who...
- 9/6/2019
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
Icarus Films has acquired North American distribution rights to Tibetan director Pema Tseden’s new arthouse feature “Jinpa.” Following “Old Dog,” The Search” and “Tharlo,” it is the fourth of Tseden’s titles to be added to the firm’s dGenerate Collection, the largest grouping of independent Chinese films available in the U.S., founded and curated by Karin Chien.
Jacky Pang, CEO of Block 2 Distribution, and Jonathan Miller, president of Icarus Films, signed the deal. Pema Tseden is one of the most prominent Tibetan filmmakers, whose black-and-white film “Tharlo” won a Golden Horse for best adapted screenplay in 2015.
An atmospheric depiction of Tibetan life, “Jinpa” was released theatrically nationwide in China but made just $1.46 million (RMB10.3 million) in theaters. It tells the tale of a truck driver who accidentally runs over a sheep on his way across the barren Tibetan steppe, and then tries to stop a hitchhiker whom...
Jacky Pang, CEO of Block 2 Distribution, and Jonathan Miller, president of Icarus Films, signed the deal. Pema Tseden is one of the most prominent Tibetan filmmakers, whose black-and-white film “Tharlo” won a Golden Horse for best adapted screenplay in 2015.
An atmospheric depiction of Tibetan life, “Jinpa” was released theatrically nationwide in China but made just $1.46 million (RMB10.3 million) in theaters. It tells the tale of a truck driver who accidentally runs over a sheep on his way across the barren Tibetan steppe, and then tries to stop a hitchhiker whom...
- 8/10/2019
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Ayka by Sergey Dvortsevoy won the grand prix at Tokyo Filmex, which wrapped Sunday after seeing a 26 percent jump in attendances over last year.
The Russia-Kazakhstan drama follows a Kyrgyz woman who abandons her newborn at a hospital and moves to Moscow to make money to repay a debt. The film was in competition for the Palme D'Or at Cannes this year and won best actress there for Samal Yeslyamova. Ayka is this year's Kazakh entry for foreign language Oscar.
Tibet-China film Jinpa by Pema Tseden, which won best screenplay in the Horizons section at Venice, won the special jury prize.
Showing ...
The Russia-Kazakhstan drama follows a Kyrgyz woman who abandons her newborn at a hospital and moves to Moscow to make money to repay a debt. The film was in competition for the Palme D'Or at Cannes this year and won best actress there for Samal Yeslyamova. Ayka is this year's Kazakh entry for foreign language Oscar.
Tibet-China film Jinpa by Pema Tseden, which won best screenplay in the Horizons section at Venice, won the special jury prize.
Showing ...
- 11/26/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Ayka by Sergey Dvortsevoy won the grand prix at Tokyo Filmex, which wrapped Sunday after seeing a 26 percent jump in attendances over last year.
The Russia-Kazakhstan drama follows a Kyrgyz woman who abandons her newborn at a hospital and moves to Moscow to make money to repay a debt. The film was in competition for the Palme D'Or at Cannes this year and won best actress there for Samal Yeslyamova. Ayka is this year's Kazakh entry for foreign language Oscar.
Tibet-China film Jinpa by Pema Tseden, which won best screenplay in the Horizons section at Venice, won the special jury prize.
Showing ...
The Russia-Kazakhstan drama follows a Kyrgyz woman who abandons her newborn at a hospital and moves to Moscow to make money to repay a debt. The film was in competition for the Palme D'Or at Cannes this year and won best actress there for Samal Yeslyamova. Ayka is this year's Kazakh entry for foreign language Oscar.
Tibet-China film Jinpa by Pema Tseden, which won best screenplay in the Horizons section at Venice, won the special jury prize.
Showing ...
- 11/26/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.