Outdoor cinema on the roof of the world

In early summer, the mountaintops in Shannan city, west China's Tibet autonomous region, are blanketed in glistening white snow, while lush greenery prevails at the mountain feet. Over 500 tents are scattered along the rushing river, where thousands of villagers have temporarily settled in the valley.

As dusk falls, 42-year-old Cidan Zhuoma walks alongside her husband toward a screen to watch a movie. The "Starry Cinema," situated at an altitude of 4,500 meters, has been in operation for over a decade, providing film services for the villagers of Shannan city's Gyaca county through the local film-projection team.

Although it is called "Starry Cinema," it differs from urban movie theaters and rural screening halls. People sit on the natural slope while watching the movies. Despite lacking typical theater seats and sound systems, the cinema offers a unique experience of watching movies under the stars.

Generations of projection team members have trekked the high mountains and rivers of the Tibetan plateau, and in bringing movies to the people who live on the snowy plateau, they overcame such challenges as low oxygen at high altitudes and perilous roads. There are currently 478 moving film projection teams in Tibet's townships, including the film projection team in Gyaca county.

The Gyaca team's annual goal is to stage 888 films, but they always exceed the target. In 2021, they projected over 900 films, attracting over 19,000 viewers.

Jian Can has been screening films at the caterpillar fungus picking site in Baxiang township for the past five years. Since the start of the caterpillar fungus season at the end of April this year, the projection team has set up four film projectors in various locations around valleys inGyaca county. The team members brought tents and cooking tools to the sites and screened movies for the locals every evening.

"Nowadays, the picking sites have electricity and even mobile network coverage. Life has become more convenient here, and there are more entertainments. Watching movies is no longer the only option," Jian Can says with a mixture of joy and disappointment. "In the past, the villagers would still demand more movies even during heavy snowfalls."

But now mobile phones and the internet have gradually found their way onto the plateau. "With a broader range of information channels, we choose to screen movies in villages with denser populations," said Jian Can,

Locals like watching feature and educational films, but those with Tibetan themes resonate more deeply with the audience. "It can store up to 20 films, ranging from war movies to romance and science fictions," said Jian Can, pulling out a storage card. "This was impossible in the past."

Times have changed, and equipment has evolved, but what remains unchanged is the projection team members' deep love for films and this land.

Here, movies are not just a form of entertainment but a way of cultural life. Movies serve as a window, allowing the light of the outside world to shine into the plateau and enrich people's spiritual life.

Source: People's Daily; trans-editing by Guo Yao