Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Oct. 16: Tibetan actor Lobsang Chompel, best known for his award-winning performance in Xiuxiu: The Sent-Down Girl, reportedly passed away in Lhasa on October 10 at the age of 68. His role in the 1998 film earned him the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor, marking a milestone in Tibetan cinema.
However, the film remains banned in China due to its politically sensitive themes, including a look at the experiences of “sent-down” youths during the Cultural Revolution. The film also remains censored because director Joan Chen shot it in Tibet without the necessary permits, a move that irritated Chinese government officials who considered it an illegal act. This led to her being fined and briefly banned from working in China.
In an interview, when asked whether the film was an implicit critique of the Cultural Revolution and whether its ban was truly due to permit issues rather than content, director Joan Chen reflected on her creative defiance at the time. “I was very stubborn then,” she had said. “I wasn’t confident in my filmmaking and couldn’t bear any more revisions from higher-ups. I decided to make the film exactly as I had written it, which meant creating it underground. It wasn’t unusual—many from my generation were making underground films then.”
Paying tribute to the late actor, Tibet Theatre, the contemporary Tibetan troupe founded in 2011 in Dharamshala by actor Lhakpa Tsering, wrote, “The curtain may have fallen, but his art and soul will forever shine through the stories he brought to life.”
Born into a peasant family in Sangri County, Tibet, Lobsang Chompel left school early due to poverty but pursued his passion for the arts with determination. From performing in a local drama troupe to studying at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, he rose to prominence as one of Tibet’s most celebrated actors, later earning international recognition for his role in Snow Leopard.
