A Woman Who Paints Thangkas

Rebgong (Qinghai province, China) is well-known for its Tibetan Buddhist thangka art for centuries. However, Tibetan women were not allowed to learn or to paint thangkas, until recent years. Lutso is one of the few Tibetan female thangka painters in Rebgong. She is also a mother, a wife, and the oldest daughter in the family. The film captures Lutso's unique life as a thangka painter, who has a career to develop and a family to support.

  • Ming Xue
    Director
  • Ming Xue
    Producer
  • Lutso
    Key Cast
    "Lutso (herself)"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    画唐卡的女子
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    25 minutes 17 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 29, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese, Tibetan
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Margaret Mead Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    October 18, 2019
    North American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Hong Kong New Wave Film Festival
    Hong Kong
    China
    August 17, 2019
    Asian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Heritales: International Heritage Film Festival
    Evora
    Portugal
    July 1, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Film Expo
    Boston
    United States
    March 20, 2020
    Official Selection
  • IUAES Inter-Congress meeting (ethnographic film unit)
    Poznan
    Poland
    August 27, 2019
Director Biography - Ming Xue

Ming Xue received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from UCLA in 2014. Her research focuses on topics of art commerce, social change, and modernization in rural Tibet. She has been doing the ethnographic research about Tibetan thangka painters in Rebgong since 2009. Recently, she integrates the visual approach, i.e. documentary filmmaking, into her research. Her documentary film, Nagarjuna Art School (2016), was an official selection of the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York.

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