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Xinhua, August 26, 2006

Jilin, China -- "Silent Holy Stones", China's first movie in the Tibetan language, won the Special Jury Award Friday night at the 8th Changchun Film Festival in northeastern Jilin Province.

The 102-minute movie with Chinese subtitles, written and directed by Baima Cedain, a 36-year-old Tibetan film maker, tells the story of a young lama who returns home from a remote temple during the New Year holiday, and has to face the changes taking place in his village.

"The documentary-like film illustrates the changes in ordinary people's lives in Tibet in a simple but impressive and very human way," said Wu Tianming, the famous Chinese director who was president of the jury.

Baima Cedain said he had long dreamed of making a purely Tibetan movie after graduating from the Beijing Academy of Film Arts.

Recent Chinese films about Tibet include "Serfs," "Red River Valley" and "The Horse Thief Composer", but these films were all made by Chinese film makers. Very few were in Tibetan or starred or were directed by Tibetans.

"Most of these films and some foreign movies take an outsider's view of Tibet and its people. I want to show audiences what Tibet is like for Tibetans themselves," said Baima Cedain, adding that he does not like the idea that Tibet is a "mysterious and bizarre" place isolated from the rest of the world.

"We want to show the world how Tibetan culture and society has developed, and the spirit and temperament of the ethnic people who live on the plateau," he said.

Tibetans are facing unprecedented changes in their lives. The "collision" between tradition and modernity creates both surprises and confusion. Holy stones engraved with Buddhist scriptures or Buddha images, which can be seen all over Tibet, are witness to the changes on the plateau and in people's thinking, said Baima.

"However, whatever changes occur, the holy status of these stones will never change, just like Tibetan people's religious devotion and some of our traditions," said the director.

Born in Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai in northwestern Qinghai Province, an area inhabited by Tibetans, Baima shot a short 30-minute digital film about a young lama and his old master in a changing society four years ago at his home as his freshman school project.

Silent Holy Stones is based on Baima's "immature work". He finished the full-length feature in the summer of 2005 after an "extremely tough" shooting experience.

We only had 3 million yuan (375,000 U.S dollars) and six weeks to make the film and none of the actors had any acting experience. The weather was terrible with outside temperatures about 20 degrees Celsius below zero, said Baima.

However, the results justify the ordeal. Last November Baima's maiden work reaped the Maiden Direction award at China's 25th Golden Rooster Awards, dubbed "China's Oscars", as well as awards at the Pusan International Film Festival in the Republic of Korea and Vancouver International Film Festival in Canada.

"We hope the film will open up the world market for Tibetan films," said Baima.

Silent Holy Stones premiered in Xining, the provincial capital of Qinghai in June, and was expected to screen in more cities in September.

Over and above attracting more filmgoers, Baima has a more ambitious plan -- to add two sequels to the Silent Holy Stones, making it a trilogy.

As the movie draws to an end, the young lama says he will escort the old lama on a pilgrimage to Lhasa.

Baima said the story of the journey would be told in the second film and the third film would be set in Lhasa itself. Lhasa is the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China.

"The people in my hometown are the enduring inspiration for my work. I will make more movies for them," said Baima.

Held every two years since 1992, the China Changchun Film Festival has become a major event for the Chinese film industry. This year a total of 187 films from home and abroad competed for eight Golden Deer awards, including best actor, actress and director.

Chinese mainland actress Zhao Wei and Hong Kong actor Aaron Kwok won Best Actress and Best Actor respectively.

stage photo


stage photo


stage photo


(Director) Baima Cedain


(Director) Baima Cedain in interview