Exploring the past

For director Lu Jian, who has worked in the Chinese film industry since the early 1990s, the film has fulfilled his decadeslong dream to shoot a movie about Xizang.

Recalling that he received a call from the script planning and creation center of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Publicity Department in early 2019, Lu says he was excited to get the chance to direct the film.

"For many literature and art enthusiasts, Xizang is a dream region that often arouses inspiration," he says.

After graduating from the literature department of Beijing Film Academy, Lu became an established director thanks to his acclaimed films, such as Er Zu (2014) and The Commitment (2018), respectively recounting a farmer striving to reflect on the transformations in rural China, and centering on a mine worker's family in Guizhou province.

Lu says he believes his directorial style, examining the tremendous changes of an era through a common person's perspective, has helped him to set the tone for Life of Buda.

He says the audiences will see in the film feudal serfdom ending in Xizang and the region entering a new era of socialism.