Awards and festivals

Film description

Tharlo is 40 years old, he can recite Mao's Little Red Book from memory, and he is about to have his ID photo taken for the first time in his life. But before he can do that, he has to visit a hairdresser. She turns out to be quite charming.

Far from the ethnographic, touristy images of the "magical Tibet", the film takes a look at the contemporary reality of the country from an unique, fresh perspective. Pema Tseden closes this poetic story about discovering and fulfilling dreams, filled with subtle humor, in black-and-white frames and simple narration. When an official informs Tharlo that needs to have an ID, he asks "Isn't it enough that I know who I am?". As it turns out, soon he will have to verify that. A meeting of a naive, rough, solitary shepherd, and an energetic, small-town hairdresser, is a pretext to show the reality of life in the Tongde region (the director's homeland) – but it is not just that. The film can be seen as a political allegory, but it is mostly a simple story about authentic emotions and an unexpected impulse for change.

Jagoda Murczyńska