Pema Tseden (1969-2023) was a Tibetan director, screenwriter and author. Most of Pema Tseden’s films were shot in the Tibetan language by Tibetan teams. Widely recognised as a pioneer of the Tibetan New Wave, Pema Tseden created a body of cinematic works that includes The Silent Holy Stones, The Search, Old Dog, Tharlo, Jinpa and Balloon amongst others. His films have been selected at the Venice Film Festival, the Locarno Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and many other major international film festivals, winning over forty international prizes.

Accolades

Pema Tseden and Wang Lei
Best Film, 2023

Pema Tseden and Wang Lei

Best Film, 2023

Pema Tseden and Wang Lei

Snow Leopard (Xue bao)

An unexpected incident of a snow leopard breaking into the sheep pen of a local herder and killing nine rams not only causes a stir…

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Pema Tseden
Best Screenplay, 2023

Pema Tseden

Best Screenplay, 2023

Pema Tseden

Snow Leopard (Xue bao)
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Pema Tseden
Best Screenplay, 2019

Pema Tseden

Best Screenplay, 2019

Pema Tseden

Balloon (Qìqiú)

Tibetan director, writer and producer, Pema Tseden has received numerous prizes and nominations from international film festivals including Berlin, Venice, Hong Kong, Locarno and Busan.…

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Pema Tseden and Huang Xufeng and Jacky Pang
Best Feature Film, 2019

Balloon (Qìqiú)

Best Feature Film, 2019

Balloon (Qìqiú)

On the Tibetan grasslands, Darje and Drolkar live a serene and ordinary life with their three sons and grandfather. The young boys’ discovery of their…

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Sangye and Alexandra Sun and Pema Tseden and Du Qingchun and Songtaijia (Sonthar Gyal)
Best Youth Feature Film, 2015

River (Gtsngbo)

Best Youth Feature Film, 2015

River (Gtsngbo)

Winner, Best Youth Feature Film, 2015 River is a story mostly told from the perspective of Yangchan, a young Tibetan girl from a sheep herding…

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Films

Snow Leopard (Xue bao)

Snow Leopard (Xue bao)

People's Republic of China

Snow Leopard (Xue bao)

An unexpected incident of a snow leopard breaking into the sheep pen of a local herder and killing nine rams not only causes a stir…

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Balloon
2019

Balloon (Qìqiú)

People's Republic of China
2019

Balloon (Qìqiú)

On the Tibetan grasslands, Darje and Drolkar live a serene and ordinary life with their three sons and grandfather. The young boys’ discovery of their…

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Old Dog
2011

Old Dog (Khyi rgan)

People's Republic of China
2011

Old Dog (Khyi rgan)

In the late 1990s, somewhere in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, a Tibetan sheep herder sells his father’s prized Tibetan mastiff to a dealer without his…

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River
2015

River (Gtsngbo)

People's Republic of China
2015

River (Gtsngbo)

Winner, Best Youth Feature Film, 2015 River is a story mostly told from the perspective of Yangchan, a young Tibetan girl from a sheep herding…

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Tharlo
2015

Tharlo

People's Republic of China
2015

Tharlo

Special Mention, Achievement in Cinematography, 2015 Tharlo is 40, and has a remarkable memory that allows him to recite Chairman Mao’s little red book. He leaves…

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The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.

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