Not an ‘assigned essay’: Pema Tseden’s Tharlo from fiction to film

This article uses close textual and visual analysis to examine Pema Tseden’s film Tharlo (2015) as an adaptation from fiction to film, reading this transformation as a response to the burden of representation often placed on the renowned Tibetan filmmaker. Although Pema Tseden’s earlier works were praised for their realist portrayals of Tibetan life, he expressed frustration at being categorized primarily as an ethnic film director. Adapted from his own short story, Tharlo marks a shift towards a new cinematic language that opens his work to interpretations beyond realism. By comparing the short story and its film adaptation, this article analyses how specific creative choices expand the narrative scope, develop more complex supporting characters and engage real-world events. Through this process, the characters in Tharlo emerge not as emblems of collective struggle but as individuals shaped by contradictions and desires, gesturing towards the filmmaker’s right to tell stories on his own terms.