{Singapore Premiere}
SAT 29 SEP | 1:20pm
CHINA 2016
142 mins
NC16
Consumer Advice: Some sexual scenes
Tibetan with English subtitles
Directed by Zhang Yang 张扬
Synopsis
After discovering a sacred stone in the mouth of a deer he just killed, Tabei, a young lonesome Tibetan cowboy, embarks on a long and difficult mission: to bring it back to the holy mountain of Buddha’s handprint. His journey turns sour as an obstinate woman, Qiong, and a psychic yet dumb elf, Pu, soon decide to join him. This is in addition to the two violent brothers on his tail, who are on a revenge quest.
Director’s Bio
Zhang Yang is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, and occasional actor. He studied Chinese literature in Beijing, where he later moved to the Central Academy of Drama from where he graduated in 1992.
One of his earlier films, Paths of the Soul premiered at Tokyo International Film Festival 2015, screening with great success in many international festivals including Busan, Rotterdam, Black Nights, Goteborg and Hong Kong. The film was released in North American and Japan during the summer 2016.
Soul on a String, his latest film, premiered in competition at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June 2016 where it received the Best Cinematography award.
Director’s Statement
During the whole year of my stay in Tibet, I shot two films: Paths of the Soul and Soul on a String. With these two films, I was researching the possibilities of the language of cinematography.
Soul on a String is adapted from two novels by Tibetan writer Tashi Dawa: “Tibet, the soul tied on a string” and “On the way to Lhasa”. The spectacular and unique landscape and variety of landforms of Tibet have a natural magical power. The religion and the local civilisation provide a strong ground for the magical realism.
Even though the film was shot in Tibet, it is not an ethnic film. If I take the example of music, this is not like a traditional Tibetan folk song, but a world music piece with Tibetan elements. “Tibet” is the carrier of the film’s space.
