On May 8, according to a number of filmmakers, Tibetan director Wan Ma Tseden died at the age of 53. His major film works include "In Search of Tommy Genden" (2007), "Old Dog" (2011), "Colorful Arrow" (2014), "Tharlo" (2015), "Killed a Sheep" (2018), "Balloon" (2019) and others.
Wan Ma Tsedan
Wan Ma Caidan, born in December 1969 in Qinghai Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, graduated from Northwest University for Nationalities and Beijing Film Academy. In 2003, he began to work as a film director.
In 2005, he attracted the attention of the film industry for his feature film debut "Quiet Mani Stone", and won the Best Director Debut Award at the 25th Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards, the Best Director Award at the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival Asian Newcomer Award, the New Wave Special Award at the 10th Busan International Film Festival, and the "International Federation of Film Critics Award" at the 30th Hong Kong International Film Festival.
"Quiet Mani Stone" poster
Wan Ma Tsedan, who has been writing about Tibet, gives different perspectives of Tibet through one film after another, not the stereotypical national symbols with curiosity or labels, but the era narrative mixed with history and time process gravel, texture and rifts. Tharlo focuses on culture clash and individual anxiety; "Old Dog" faces a gradually blurred hometown and chooses to stick to dignity. In "Killed a Sheep", Wan Ma Tsedan, who used to be more inclined to the documentary style, became freewheeling, the relationship between the characters with various metaphors seemed to be more ambiguous, the audiovisual language was a little more psychedelic, and the tough and rough Tibetan style was also a little soft and compassionate.
"Tharlo" poster
A still from "Killed a Sheep"
As a bilingual writer and literary translator, Wan Ma Tsedan's Chinese novels include "The Dream of a Wandering Singer", "Mani Stone, Knock Quietly", "Tharlo", "Killed a Sheep", "Wujin's Teeth", and Tibetan novels include "Temptation", "City Life" and "Gang". His main translated works include Tibet: The Untold Story and Debenga's Novels. His literary works have won many awards such as Qinghai Literature Award, Lin Jinlan Short Story Award, Huacheng Literature Award, and Zhangchar Literature Award. His works have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Czech, Japanese, Korean and other Chinese languages. The famous Tibetan writer Tashi Dawa praised "Wanma Tseden for creating the peak of Tibetan movies and novels Gemini".
"Stranger", which started in February this year, may become the posthumous work of Wan Ma Tsedan, starring Huang Xuan. According to the crew, the movie has been completed a few days ago. The film to be released by Wan Ma Tseidan is also "Snow Leopard", which is scheduled for 2023.
Huang Xuan and Wan Ma Tseidan at the opening ceremony of "Stranger"