Pioneering Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden dies aged 53

Pema Tseden, a Tibetan new wave filmmaker best known for films including Jinpa and Balloon, has died aged 53.

Reports claim the director was in Tibet when he died suddenly on Monday, May 8.

The news was first shared by the China Academy of Art, where he worked as a film professor and doctoral advisor.

‘Pema Tseden, a famous Tibetan director, screenwriter and professor at the Film School of the China Academy of Art, died in Tibet in the early hours of May 8 due to an acute illness,’ the Academy’s statement read.

‘Due to the sudden incident, the school will work with Mr Tseden’s family to deal with the follow up matters. The relevant information will be announced in due course.’

Unconfirmed reports from some Chinese-language media said that he had suffered a heart attack.

Tseden, who also used the Chinese name Wanmaciadan, chose to work within the official Chinese film system, which included script approvals and censorship.

He was also the first Tibetan graduate of Beijing Film School.

Born in 1969 in Qinghai, China, during the Cultural Revolution, Tseden majored in Tibetan Language and Literature at Northwestern University for Nationalities.

After first working as a teacher and cvil servant, he headed to film school.

Tseden was considered the most influential Tibetan filmmaker in the world.

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