Remembering late Tibetan film director Pema Tseden’s ‘weighty’ life

The widely acclaimed filmmaker was able to depict Tibetans’ struggle as Beijing became more authoritarian.

*The titular character in Pema Tseden’s film “Tharlo” talks with an officer in a rural police station in this scene from the movie. Credit: “Tharlo” by Pema Tseden*

Pema Tseden, the renowned Tibetan director, died of a heart attack on May 8th, and many hearts worldwide are broken. As a professor of Chinese politics (and Tibet) at Cornell University I have shared his films with my students, and when I informed the current ones of this news they too were pained by his passing. To better understand why Pema Tseden’s death is so significant one can, fittingly, turn to one of his most important films, Tharlo.

The first thing one sees in the remarkable 2015 movie as the opening credits fade is a lamb being fed as it sits comfortably in a bag. The camera slowly pans out to reveal that the film’s titular character, Tharlo, is nourishing the lamb. The herder is in a small rural police station, standing across from an officer, both men are Tibetan, but their lives are quite different. The officer has been integrated into the People’s Republic of China, Tharlo has not.