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Lhapal Gyal

Directing

Biography

Lhapal Gyal is a Tibetan director/screenwriter and graduate of Beijing Film Academy, born in Qinghai province in 1989. His first feature film, Wangdrak's Rain Boots (2018), was nominated for the Crystal Bear Award at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival. He has served as executive director for a number of films, including Pema Tseden's Tharlo (2015) and Balloon (2019). The Great Distance Delivers Crane (2022) is his second feature film.

Known For

Kong and Jigme
5.5

Lao Kong came to work in Tibet for the first time and needed translator urgently. By chance, he found Jiumei, who had studied in the mainland. Although they didn't understand each other at first, they eventually became lifelong friends.

Kong and Jigme

2024
Wangdrak's Rain Boots
6.0

It’s the rainy season in the Tibetan highlands. It’s good for the crops, but bad for Wangdrak. He’s the only boy in his village who doesn’t own a pair of rain boots – and the other children tease him about it. His father has no money to buy any boots, plus he has other worries: there’s a dispute among the farmers. Secretly, his mother swaps a goat skin for a new pair of light blue boots. But when Wangdrak proudly wears them to school the next day, the children laugh at him again because it has stopped raining and the sun is shining. At least Wangdrak can count on his best friend Lhamo. Set in the vast mountains of Tibet this film affectionately portrays the story of a young boy’s dreams which are bound by the traditional structures of rural life.

Wangdrak's Rain Boots

2018
The Great Distance Delivers Crane
6.7

In a Tibetan village on the Qinghai plateau, a young boy, Dorje, and his sister, Kelsang, live with their grandmother. Having lost their mother at an early age, the siblings long for their father's company, but he is always busy and rarely comes home. One day, the siblings come across an injured baby black-necked crane, who they kindly bring home to take care of. With winter approaching, the crane could not complete its migration without its parent bird, so they decide to take it to its wintering grounds in Yunnan by motorcycle. When their father hears that the children have left home without permission, he immediately goes south to look for them. This treacherous journey is destined to be a journey of growth for the family of three, prompting them to re-examine the meaning of kinship.

The Great Distance Delivers Crane

2022