Special Screenings

Hong Kong / 1986 / 88 min.
Director: TIAN Zhuangzhuang

The second feature-length film by one of China's "Fifth Generation" masters, TIAN Zhuang-zhuang. It is considered a masterpiece of 1980s Chinese cinema along with CHEN Kai-ge's "Yellow Land" (1984) and ZHANG Yi-mou's "Red Sorghum" (1987). Set in Tibet, this tragic drama unfolds amid desolate scenery as it follows a man who is banished from his community for donating stolen goods to a temple, and must steal horses repeatedly to support his family. The film's strongest point is its almost cultural anthropological documentary-like imagery capturing various customary rituals of Tibet. The power of these often surpass the story and therefore led to a mixed reception in China at the time it was produced. This is a digitally restored version that was presented at the Beijing International Film Festival.