Drakpa is an elderly Tibetan shepherd who lives with his son Gonbo and daughter-in-law Rikso. Drakpa owns an old Tibetan mastiff, a breed of sheep herding dogs whose inflated price in the early 2000s made them prized possessions for Chinese buyers in the “mainland” (i.e. non-Tibetan China). This mastiff circulates through the local dog-trading economy: it’s sold, recovered, re-sold, stolen, and recovered yet again, passing through the hands of an ethnic Chinese dealer, the local police, and Tibetan dog rustlers. At the same time, Gonbo and Rikso wrestle with infertility issues. Amidst newly fenced-off Amdo grasslands and a decidedly dilapidated village, Drakpa tries to ward off everyone who sees his beloved dog as a mere commodity.
Crises of identity, commodification, and masculinity intensify as vultures circle expectantly, just overhead. This may be Pema Tseden’s darkest, most anti-picturesque film.
Community Partner
Pema Tseden
Lochey, Drolma Kyab, Tamdrin Tso, Yanbum Gyal, Chokyong Gyal, Demchok Gyamtso
China
2010
In Tibetan with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Screenwriter
Pema Tseden
Cinematography
Gyal Sonthar
Editor
Sangye Bhum
Also in This Series
Tibetan director Pema Tseden became one of the most remarkable filmmakers of this century, revolutionizing the representation of Tibet and Tibetans and sharing his visions of authentic Tibetan life with the entire film-going world by reimagining how narrative cinematic fiction could operate within so-called “Chinese minority cinema”.