Tsering Rhitar Sherpa
Tsering Rhitar Sherpa (born 1968) is a Nepalese filmmaker, screenwriter, and film producer. He was born in Nepal to a Sherpa father and a mother of Tibetan origin. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Delhi University and studied filmmaking at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi from 1992 to 1993. He makes documentaries and feature films with Mila Productions.
His early documentaries include Tears of Torture (1994), a short about a Tibetan nun escaping Tibet, and The Spirit Doesn’t Come Anymore (1997), about a Tibetan shaman and his son. The latter won awards at Film South Asia (Best Film, 1997) and the Parnu Anthropological Film Festival (Best Indigenous Filmmaker, 1998) and was shown at several international festivals.
Sherpa’s first feature film, Mukundo: Mask of Desire, released in 2000, was inspired by a newspaper story about a traditional healer who killed a patient. He describes it as exploring rituals and beliefs in Nepali society. In 2000 Nepal chose Mukundo as its official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.
His second feature, Karma (2005–2006), is about two Buddhist nuns from the Mustang region and was shown at major festivals around the world.
He is married and has a son (born 1995) and a daughter (born 2002).
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:51 (CET).