Tibetan Filmmaker Detained and Hospitalized In China

Dharamsala: On June 25, Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden has been detained by Chinese police from an airport in Qinghai and suffered serious injury while in the police custody. The award-winning director was afterward taken to a hospital in Western China for treatment of the wounds. He remains in police custody.

Following the incident, the Chinese filmmaker’s guild claimed that the injuries were serious enough but was denied by the Chinese police. It was stated by police that ‘he was only lightly injured being taken away from luggage dispute.’ The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) however noted that Tseden is as vulnerable as every other Tibetan and ‘being treated as a second-class citizen in his own country.’ “The police know that they can beat, abuse and detain Tibetans at will and with almost total impunity,” the CTA said.

Tseden was appointed at hospital on Monday morning when claimed that he is feeling dizzy and chest pain. The police took him to the hospital and later asserted that he is suffering from high blood pressure and high blood sugar.

However, Tesden’s injury in the police custody is a follow up of another Tibetan environmentalist’s death who was a graduate from the Beijing University and was died while detained. Reports are that the Chinese police department is infamous for its unregulated treatments to those in custody.

Pema Tseden is a renowned Tibetan filmmaker best known for the films Tharlo (2015) and Old Dog (2011). His debut work, The Silent Holy Stones (2002), won the Best Directorial Debut at the 25^th Golden Rooster Awards, Asian New Talent Award for Best Director at the 9^th Shanghai International Film Festival. The film has also received the Special Jury Award at the 8^th Changchun Film Festival, and Best First Feature at the 13^th Beijing College Student Film Festival.

The Silent Holy Stones is also the first feature film that was made entirely in Tibetan.