In Old Dog, directed by Pema Tseden, the leading voice of the Tibetan New Wave, a family on the Himalayan plains discovers their dog is worth a fortune, but selling it comes at a terrible price. The Tibetan nomad mastiff i... more »s an exotic prize dog in China, potentially fetching millions of dollars from wealthy Chinese buyers. When a young man named Gonpo notices several thefts of mastiffs from Tibetan farm families, he decides to sell his families dog before it is stolen and sold on the black market. His father, an aging Tibetan herder, is furious when he discovers the dog missing. He sets off to buy the dog back, sparking a series of events that threaten to tear the family apart. Weaving together narrative strands of humor and gravity, Old Dog beautifully depicts life among the rural Tibetan people and the erosion of Tibetan culture under the pressures of contemporary society.« less