Tibet’s Pema Tseden Wraps ‘Snow Leopard’ High Altitude Drama Film

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefPema Tseden, whose last three films have all appeared at the Venice Film Festival, has finished lensing his latest effort “Snow Leopard.” The film is a drama about how humans and animals end up getting along, despite their occasional conflicts.While Tibet is a source of controversy between China and the international community, ethnically Tibetan Pema Tseden (aka Wanma Caidan) chooses to work within the official Chinese film system of script approvals, censorship and release permits.

A former civil servant and teacher, he is sometimes described as a pioneer of the Tibetan New Wave and has credits that include “Silent Holy Stones,” “Jinpa,” and “Balloon.” “Snow Leopard” was given a shooting permit in March this year and was filmed in The Three-River Source National Nature Reserve in Maduo County, part of Tibet, which China calls the Xizang Autonomous Region.

The average altitude in the reserve is some 5,000 meters (approximately 16,000 feet), making it a haven for wildlife away from mass human intrusion and development.

In 2021, Variety reported that China’s Film Bureau approved Pema Tseden’s screenplay for a film called “Stranger,” in which a man on a Harley Davidson rides around Tibet looking for a woman called Tara. “Snow Leopard” appears to have moved ahead first.Its story is understood to the concern a conflict between a father and a son after a snow leopard kills nine of a herder’s goats.