Clash of modern and tradition in Tibet
Print Edition
DOCUMENTARIES are portraits in the form of film while its subject originates from a real-life character. The theme it delivers often resonates with many universal emotions.
The 20th Shanghai International Film Festival opened its documentary unit this year with the global premiere of “Ganglha Metok,” a fascinating piece directed by Tibetan filmmaker Tashi Chophel.
The film is also vying for the Golden Goblet awards in the documentary category. If it wins tonight, the film will be screened to the public tomorrow. Later this year it is also slated for release on major video-sharing websites.
The film documents the story of three young Tibetan girls at beauty school in the city of Xining, in northwest China’s Qinghai Province. In two years, the filmmakers record and bring the girls’ transformation to the big screen, and to the public.
The documentary follows the main character Sonamkyi and her two best friends at school, Drolma and Khadrolkyi. They come from similar pastoral families only to pursue a different life in the city. They hope to engage in a hair-styling career, however, it is highly controversial on the Tibetan highlands.
One of the most memorable scenes from the documentary is when Sonamkyi sets up a doll on the pastures to practice her hairdressing skills. All we see is the shocking image of Sonamkyi’s persistence on miles of empty grassland. Her family is extremely against her will, and her mother often discourages her by saying that “there’s not a single barber shop across the Tibetan highlands — no one would go even if Sonamkyi opens one.”
Through this film, Chophel draws attention to the clash between traditional Tibetan culture and the modern world. The question is not how the two will merge but how the future generation will bring themselves out of the highlands.
Sonamkyi and her friends come to the city to acquire skills but they do not forget their roots. The film documents their everyday lives as they sing Tibetan songs, return home for the holidays, attend traditional weddings, and perform traditional rituals.
The documentary ends with a scene of Kora. After Sonamkyi successfully finds a job in the city and calls home, the camera pans over the pastures covered with snow.
The audience witnesses the traditional Kora being performed when Sonamkyi’s family walks and kowtows on nature’s purest land.
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