Page 66 - Demo

66 || FASHION MAGAZINE || FEBRUARY 2015Wei said there were tons of things he was surprised the Tibetans did during filming. He explained how the original production was delayed 2 years because when they first arrived the Tibetans thought the film crew was there to get them to participate in political propaganda. They believed this as they had seen pictures of Tiananmen Square, the furry of some radical Tibetans escalated and they smashed a camera and hurt a photographer. here were also inspirational things the nomads were willing to do, for example the scene where the elderly woman holds the framed picture of the 11th Panchen Lama who many Tibetans believe was abducted by the Chinese government. Before this scene was filmed each actor was asked to give his consent since participating could bring them trouble. Their dedication to their beliefs demonstrated by their participation in this scene was Wei%u2019s motivation to originally make Butter Lamp. While Wei is proud of all of the awards Butter Lamp has received, the Chinese Independent Film Festival (CIFF) award has special importance as it is the first independent film festival in China and the first screening of Butter Lamp by any Chinese film festival. The CIFF had its own struggles and at one point it was even banned. But the ClermontFerrand Short Film Festival is a very influential festival and the Grand Jury Award from the AFI Film Festival is very important as it is the most influential international festival in North America. Wei shared that he will continue making short and feature films. Within all genres of film Wei prefers cinema d%u2019auteur. He will be a part of a group exhibit this month in Rome. He%u2019ll be showing a work about Eastern Cameroon. As Butter Lamp has taught us something of the nomadic Tibetans with Wei beautifully capturing their innocence and strengths, we look forward to seeing Eastern Cameroon through Wei%u2019s award winning perspective. T