Khashem Gyal

Khashem Gyal is an award-winning writer, director, cinematographer, and producer from the Amdo region of Tibet. He is currently an Asia in Action Fellow at Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University and an teaches cinema at its School of the Arts. He is the recipient of the Colors of Asia Award and a nominee for the Adeste Gold Medal, which honors global changemakers under the age of 40 who inspire others to “touch the stars.”

His filmography includes Valley of the Heroes, Daughters’ Courage, Daughter of the Light, A Day in the Life of a Tibetan Pastoralist, and Awang Jigmey: Walking Among the Peaks. His work has received numerous national and international awards, establishing him as a leading voice in Tibetan cinema.

Khashem’s debut feature, Daughter of the Light, was the first Tibetan international co-production film and received the Colors of Asia Award. The film went on to win the ATP Grand Prize for Excellence in Japan, the Audience Award at Korea’s EIDF Film Festival, and the One Hundred Flowers Award at China’s Golden Rooster Film Festival. It was also nominated for the NETPAC Award at the Ulju Mountain Film Festival, Best Film at the China Documentary Film Academy, and both Best Chinese Story and Best First Feature Documentary at GZDOC.

Khashem is the author of Children Chasing the Light (Zhui Zhu Guang de Haizi, Shanghai Jiaotong University Press, 2025). He is currently working on a new documentary exploring the life and legacy of Pema Tseden, the pioneering figure of Tibetan cinema. Alongside this project, he is developing three narrative films and writing two forthcoming books: Movie Mindfulness and Four Seasons with Pema Tseden.

Director's statement

Since 2016, my team and I started working on this story that intimately explores the deep inner world of a girl who was abandoned by her parents at an early age. This left a shadow in her heart as she grew up. Every day, she is trying to overcome her pain by taking adventure in her daily life and striving to seize her own destiny.

The film’s stories of inner shadows and the obstacles between the daughter and her parents can surely be found in similar forms all around the world. I hope this film will transcend cultural and geographic boundaries, bringing hope and reflection to those who have difficult relationships with their parents, as well as to parents—or those who hope to become parents one day.

We titled the film Daughter of the Light in reference to Tibetan children living on the plateau, a place believed to be closest to the sun on earth, in the hope that they will have a bright future.