Planet In Focus - Our Planet, Your Focus, Our Festival

Toronto, ON October 25, 2005

Kekexili: Mountain Patrol
Dir: Lu Chuan 2004 China 35mm 90 min
In Mandarin and Tibetan with English subtitles
November 27, 9 p.m.

TORONTO—Planet in Focus, Canada’s International Environmental Film & Video Festival, is pleased to announce it’s co-presentation of director Lu Chuan’s Kekexili: Mountain Patrol at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. The closing night gala presentation on November 27 is the Toronto premiere for this award-winning film set in Tibet.

Based upon actual events, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol chronicles the travails of a ragtag group of Tibetan mountain patrols that volunteered to stop the illegal poaching. In 1993, a Beijing photojournalist was assigned to follow one such band, and his subsequent account caused a sensation throughout China, eventually leading to the government declaring the whole area a protected zone. His tale became the story depicted in the film.

Winner of the Golden Horse for Best Picture and the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo Film

Festival, this moving yet harrowing motion picture is the most progressive portrayal of Tibetans yet from China. Stoic and dignified yet not without their flaws, these men (acted by non-professionals) are as empathetic as they are benevolent in their cause. Amid stunning cinematography of some of nature’s most rugged terrain, the film shows how one group is willing to protect their way of life at all costs, risking perhaps even their own lives.

In addition to its own annual film festival, Planet in Focus is dedicated to bringing important and entertaining films and videos to a wide Canadian audience through its touring shows and special presentations at other film festivals such as Reel Asian, and at this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal at the Cinémathèque Québecoise, in November.

Kekexili: Mountain Patrol will be playing at the Royal Cinema on November 29 at 9pm.

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For more information: please contact Festival Director Candida Paltiel, 416 531 1769