TENZIN PHUNTSOG


Tenzin Phuntsog is an award-winning artist and filmmaker, working across moving image, narrative film, and installation. His practice explores themes of landscape, presence, and belonging, centered in a Tibetan diasporic gaze. His work is recognized for its innovative use of 35mm motion picture film, in which he lenses his own projects, imbuing every frame with a singular sensibility. His interest in technology and its ability to transform perception, mediating the quotidian and sublime, distance and time is evident throughout his body of work. He is also the founder and director of the Tibet Film Archive a collection of rare and historical films shot inside Tibet before the occupation, through the early exile years. His personal work is informed by the archival work, and vice-versa. Tenzin earned his MFA in Visual Art from Columbia University in New York and a BFA in Media Art from UCLA in Los Angeles. His artworks are represented by Microscope Gallery in New York. He recently finished his first feature narrative film Next Life, executive produced by Carlos Reygadas, which world premiered at FID Marseille, winning two awards establishing him as a groundbreaking voice in contemporary art and cinema. He is currently in development on his second feature film Sentient Beings supported by SFFILM. His debut solo show at Microscope Gallery entitled Pure Land garnered praise and press in New York. His works have been exhibited and screened at the Berlinale, Forum Expanded, Rotterdam, FID Marseille, Microscope Gallery, The Tang Museum, Eye Filmmuseum, The Haus for Media Art Oldenburg, Seoul Media City Biennale, European Media Arts Festvival EMAF, Camden, Experimenta India, Blackstar, and the REDCAT in Los Angeles. He was also a Flaherty Fellow, Haus of Media Art Grant Receipient, and NARS New York Artist in Residence. Tenzin also served as a consultant for the Prince Claus Funds. He is currently based in San Francisco, and teaches at CCA. During the pandemic he organized free virtual workshops for artist and filmmakers called Stateless Cinema, the goal was to build community and model sustainable art practices based on the strategies and philosophical outlooks of the artists and filmmakers invited. These workshops were generously supported by the Guissepe Kaiser Stiftung and the Ford Fondation.

CV   Email  

RECENT EVENTS


Center for Ethnographic Media Arts, USC, Los Angeles, CA, Sept 2025
The Cottonwood, Film Showcase - Livingston, MT, Sept 2025
Giorno Poetry Systems, Forms of Awakening, Book Launch - New York, NY Sept 2025
World Premiere: Next Life, FID Marseille - Marseille, FR, July 2025
Next Life In Competition for Best First Feature, Cine+ Competition
North American Premiere: BlackStar Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA, August 2025
Carnegie Mellon, Constructing Cinema, The School of Art - Pennsylvania, PA March 2025
House for Media Art, Gyatso, Oldenburg, DE, Solo Exhibition, Sep-Oct 2024
House for Media Art, Artist in Residence, Oldenburg, DE, 2024
Experimenta India - Goethe Institute, Bangalore, IN, Dec 2024
Tang Museum, Forms of Awakening, Group Exhibition - Saratoga Springs, NY, Oct-Dec 2023
Redcat, Roy and Edna Disney Theater - Los Angeles, CA, Nov 2023
Whole Grain, Tang Museum - Saratoga Springs, NY, Oct 2023
CALARTS, Cinematic Voices, Film & Video, Los Angeles
European Media Art Film Festival, Trembling Time - Kunsthalle, Osnabrück, DE, April 2023
Seoul Media City Biennale, This Too is a Map, Group Exhibition - Seoul, KR, Sept-Nov 2023
Berlinale, Forum Expanded Exhibition, An Atypical Orbit - Berlin, DE, Feb-March 2023
World Premiere: Rotterdam International Film Festival, Pure Land, Netherlands Jan 2023
Pure Land In Competition for Tiger Ammodo Short Film Award
Microscope Gallery, Pure Land, Solo Exhibition - New York, NY, March-April 2022
CALARTS, Visiting Artist Workshop, Film & Video, Los Angeles
NARS, Artist in Residence - Sunset Park, NY, 2021

JOURNAL