Dharamshala: The Brooklyn film festival was held between the 1st and the 10th of June 2012. From over 100 films from 30 countries all over the world, a Tibetan film called Old Dog, directed by Pema Tseden won The Best Narrative Feature Award and a cash prize of 57,000 dollars.
The main subject of the film is the difference in views between the older and younger generations in Tibetan society. It shows the change in Tibetan society. Christopher Bell from IMbD said, "There's some true passion behind this work, and Tseden is a director with plenty to say on all topics, ranging from the younger generation's lack of connection to their heritage to the troubling relationship between Tibet and China."
The cast of the film includes Yanbum Gyal, Drolma Kyab, Lochey, and Tamdrin Tso. Sonthar Gyal, is the cinematographer and Sangye Bhum served as the editor.
Pema Tseden was born in Trika county in Qinghai province. After his schooling, he carried out research at Lanzhou North Western Nationalities University. In his second year as a research student he received a scholarship from the Trace Foundation to pursue cinematography at the Beijing Film Academy.
His first film, Grassland, was released in 2004. In 2005, he made a film called The Silent Mani Stones. In 2009, his film, The Search, was sent to the Bangkok Film Festival (where it won The Special Jury Prize) and the Shanghai National Film Festival (where it won The Grand Prize)
In an interview with the Trace Foundation, Pema Tseden recounted how he had loved films as a child. He read a lot of Tibetan folk lore and his film stories have drawn a lot influence from stories like King Gesar's epic and the Eight Great Tibetan Operas amongst others.
Indiewire, a blogging site, reported that he will start working on his new film entitled "America" and the main subject is a Tibetan family who bought an expensive cow from a foreign country because they heard that it would give more milk. But they don't know how to care for the cow and it dies. The main point in the film lies in the fact that in this chain of events, the relationships between people in this particular tight-knit village change.
Pema Tseden represents a brand of new Tibetan film makers who are local in their roots but also possess international exposure. The blog, Indiewire quotes, "mark our words, Pema Tseden is a name you'll be seeing in contention for the Palme d'Or in the not-too-distant future"
