Pema Tseden (December 1969 – 8 May 2023) was a Tibetan film director and screenwriter. He was a professor at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and a member of the Film Directors Guild of China, China Film Association,  and Chinese Film Literature Association. He is known for making many  films entirely in Tibetan language and presenting a more realistic  depiction of Tibetan life as opposed to the exoticism often associated  with the region.

Pema Tseden was born into a pastoral family, in Guide County, Qinghai, in December 1969, during the Cultural Revolution. He was raised by his grandfather, who was a monk. He was the only one of three siblings to have finished school. He graduated from Northwest University for Nationalities,  where he majored in Tibetan Language and Literature. After graduation,  he worked as a primary school teacher and a civil servant. Then he  pursued advanced studies at China's most prestigious film school, Beijing Film Academy, where he became the Academy's first-ever Tibetan student.

Pema Tseden's debut work, The Silent Holy Stones, won the Best Directorial Debut at the 25th Golden Rooster Awards, Asian New Talent Award for Best Director at the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival, Special Jury Award at the 8th Changchun Film Festival, and Best First Feature at the 13th Beijing College Student Film Festival.

In 2009, Soul Searching won the Special Jury Award at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival and was nominated for Golden Goblet Award.

Tharlo, a film adaptation based on the novel of the same name by himself, won the Best Adapted Screenplay at the 52nd Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards, also prizes in the 23rd Beijing College Student Film Festival, and the film was nominated for Golden Lion at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.