ARTIST & FILMMAKER
Tenzin Phuntsog is an artist and filmmaker working across deep time. Their practice spans narrative film, moving image installation, and archive. Their works navigate the space between what is lost and what persists — through surrogate landscapes, language, and the karmic weight of lives unfinished.
Their debut feature Next Life premiered at FID Marseille 2025, was selected for New Directors/New Films 2026, reviewed in The New Yorker, and is set for theatrical distribution with Lunette Films. Their second feature, Sentient Beings, is in development with the support of SFFILM FilmHouse Residency, San Francisco.
Their moving image installation work is represented by Microscope Gallery, New York. Their second solo exhibition, The Last Dream at the End of the World, was an Artforum Must-See reviewed in Screen Slate. Recent exhibitions include Pure Land 2022, Berlinale Forum Expanded 2023, Seoul Media City Biennale 2023, and Gyatso Haus für Medienkunst, Germany 2024.
@tenzinprojects
NEW DIRECTORS NEW FILMS
Next Life, their debut narrative feature film, will screen at New Directors/New Films 2026 MoMA & Film at Lincoln Center — New York, NY, April 13–14, 2026
PRESS
The New Yorker
Film at Lincoln Center
Filmmaker Magazine
The Film Stage
Indiewire
Deadline
MoMA
Variety
NEXT LIFE
Feature Narrative Film, 35mm, Color, 5.1 Sound, 73 mins, (US/MEX) 2025
Roles: Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematographer, and Editor
Executive Producers: Carlos Reygadas, Splendor Omnia Studios, Ben Conrad
SCREENINGS
World Premiere: FID Marseille - Marseille, FR, July 2025
In Competition for Best First Feature, Cine+ Competition
North American Premiere: Black Star Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA, August 2025
Message to Man Film Festival - Moscow, RU, Oct 2025
Twin Cities Film Festival - Minneapolis, MN, Oct 2025
Maryland Film Festival - Baltimore, MD, Nov 2025
Houston Cinema Arts Festival - Houston, TX, Nov 2025
New Directors, New Films, MoMA, Lincoln Center - New York, NY, April 2026
LACMA Screening, NuArt Theater - Los Angeles, CA, May 2026
PRESS
Filmmaker Magazine
InReview Online
THE LAST DREAM AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Solo Show, Microscope Gallery, NYC, Feb 5th — March 7th, 2026
WORKS EXHIBITED
Auras, 3 Channel Film Installation, 35mm, Infinite Duration, 2026
Capturing Reality, 2 Channel Film Installation, 35mm, 6mins 27s, 2026
The Last Dream at the End of the World, 3D Animation, 8mins 37s, 2026
Drone God 1, Customized Drone Sculpture, Infinite Hover, 2026
Drone God 2, Customized Drone Sculpture, Infinite Hover, 2026
PRESS
Artforum - Must See
Screenslate
Kinoki
AURAS
Installation, Color, Sound, 35mm, Infinite Duration, 2026
EXHIBITION RECORD
World Premiere: Slamdance, Revolutions, February 2026
Microscope Gallery, Solo Show, New York, NY 2026
HAUS FÜR MEDIENKUNST
Gyatso
Solo Show, Sept 7–Oct 27, 2024
Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg, DE
Haus für Medienkunst
e-flux
BERLINALE, FORUM EXPANDED
An Atypical Orbit, Silent Green Betonhalle, Berlin, DE, Feb 15 — March 5, 2023
WORKS EXHIBITED
Pala Amala, 2 Channel Film Installation, 35mm, 6mins 34s, 2022
Dreams,Film Installation, 35mm, 2mins 2s, 2022
Summer Grass, Gau Video Sculpture, 2022
Dancing Boy, Gau Video Sculpture, 2022
Acha la, Gau Video Sculpture, 2022
PRESS
Arsenal
Berlinale
Catalogue + Interview
Ultra Dogme
Neo2
FilmKrant
Monopol
Photogenie
Mubi Notebook
Umbau
PURE LAND
Solo Show, Microscope Gallery, NYC, March 3 — April 9, 2022
WORKS EXHIBITED
Pala Amala, 2 Channel Film Installation, 35mm, 6mins 34s, 2022
Dreams,Film Installation, 35mm, 2mins 2s, 2022
Pure Land, Short Film, 15mins 25s, 2022
Summer Grass, Gau Video Sculpture, 2022
Dancing Boy, Gau Video Sculpture, 2022
Acha la, Gau Video Sculpture, 2022
PRESS
Screenslate
Artsy
Tique Art
IFFR
International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2023
WORKS SCREENED
Pure Land, Short Film, 15mins 25s, 2022
In Competition for Ammodo Tiger Short Award
IFFR
PURE LAND
Narrative Short Film, 35mm, Color, Sound, 16 mins, 2022Roles: Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematographer, and Editor
SCREENINGS
World Premiere: International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands, Jan 2023
In Competition for Tiger Ammodo Short Film Award
Microscope Gallery, Pure Land, Solo Exhibition - New York, NY, March-April 2022
Seoul Media City Biennale, This Too is a Map, Group Exhibition - Seoul, KR, Sept-Nov 2023
European Media Art Film Festival, Trembling Time - Kunsthalle, Osnabrück, DE, April 2023
Tang Museum, Forms of Awakening Group Exhibition - Saratoga Springs, NY, Oct-Dec 2023
Whole Grain, Tang Museum - Saratoga Springs, NY, Oct 2023
Redcat, Roy and Edna Disney Theater - Los Angeles, CA, Nov 2023
Experimenta India - Goethe Institute, Bangalore, IN, Dec 2024
Center for Ethnographic Media Arts, USC, Los Angeles, CA, Sept 2025
PRESS
e-flux
Ultra Dogma