Screen/Society--Cine-East: East Asian Cinema: "Old Dog" (discussion to follow)

Film Screening: "Old Dog" (Pema Tseden, 2011, 88 min, Tibet, in Tibet with English subtitles, Color, DVD)-- Introduced by Prof. Ralph Litzinger, Cultural Anthropology (Discussion to follow) -- "Old Dog" is a poetic story about Tibet's changing society, how old values come in conflict with an expanding market economy. Directed by the visionary Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden, it gives an insider's view of life on the Himalayan plateau unclouded by romanticism. A Tibetan sheep herder sells his father's prized Tibetan mastiff to a dealer without his father's approval. When his father finds out, he must travel to a frontier town to retrieve the dog that he raised for 12 years and is deeply attached to. The relation between father and son is turned upside down, and the mastiff, a prized possession among China's new rich, has to be guarded at all times from dog-nappers and dealers who constantly harass the family with ever increasing lucrative offers. [View Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_m2t8yUAwc ]