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Review | Venice 2023: Snow Leopard movie review – late Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden’s poetic drama acknowledges the best and worst in humanity
- Playing at the Venice Film Festival, the late Pema Tseden’s mystical film about an embittered herder and a captive snow leopard explores harsh realities
- The grimness is offset by tender, humorous scenes in a movie with impressive visual effects and landscapes that’s a reminder of a filmmaking talent lost early
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Midway through Snow Leopard, Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden’s beguiling, poetic movie, there comes an exchange that crystallises the director’s intent.
“The snow leopard’s world is cruel,” remarks one character, admiringly watching a video of this rare creature hunt its prey remorselessly in a barren landscape.
“Actually, the human world is just the same,” retorts Dradul (Genden Phuntsok), an employee of a regional TV station who has journeyed with three colleagues to Qinghai, a remote province abutting Tibet in northwest China.
It is lines like this that are tinged with poignancy; in May this year, Pema Tseden – an award winner known for films such as Jinpa and Balloon – died, aged 53, of heart failure.
This film, which is screening out of competition at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival, arrives posthumously, and serves as a further reminder of a fine filmmaking talent lost too early.
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