Film tour of the country
Bhutanese cinema is still a small industry but one that already promises great surprises. Bhutan's first feature film was released in 1989. Gasa Lamai Singye by Ugyen Wangdi is a tragic love story to the tune of Romeo and Juliet. It takes ten years for a Bhutanese work to cross the world. That same year, another Bhutanese director made a name for himself. Tshering Wangyel directed Rewaa, a successful work entirely in the Dzonghka language. In 2007, Wangyel directed Bakchha, the first Bhutanese horror film. In 2008, another Dzonghka-language film was released, Arunachal Pradesh to Thimphu by Jigme Ring. More recently, there is Kezang P. Jigme's The Fate of Kezang P. Jigme (2010), Ap Bokto by Karma Dhendup (2014) and Arrows of the Thunder Dragon, an Australian feature co-produced with Bhutan selected as the Australian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2016. 2016 also marks the release of Dakini directed by Dechen Roder and The Dragon's Treasure, Bhutan's first 2D animated film.
Khyentse Norbu, leader and inspiration
Khyentse Norbu is a Buddhist monk and lama (title given to a religious teacher of Buddhism), born in 1961 in Khenpajong, eastern Bhutan. In 1999, Khyentse Norbu, considered one of the pioneers of the Bhutanese film industry, directed The Cup, in co-production with Australia. With this work, the Bhutanese filmmaker achieved his first success, when he was nominated for an Oscar in 2000. In 2003, Norbu returned with Voyageurs et magiciens, a film shot in the Dzonghka language. To make this second major film, the filmmaker turned to the British Jeremy Thomas, producer of Bertolucci's films. Shooting this film required importing all the equipment and technicians from India. Travellers and Magicians is the first feature film entirely produced and directed in Bhutan. It is followed by Vara: A Blessing (2013) and Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait (2016), previewed at the Locarno Festival in 2016. The work was also screened at the Toronto Festival in the same year and received critical acclaim for the way in which the often complex Buddhist themes were represented. Khyentse also appears in two documentary works: Words of My Perfect Teacher (2003), a biographical portrait of the Bhutanese director, and in Tulku (2009), directed by Gesar Mukpo. The documentary work follows the personal experiences of five young Tulkus (a person recognized as the reincarnation of a Buddhist master or lama), including Norbu. In 2006, one of Norbu's disciples, Neten Chokling, directed Milarepa in the Spiti Valley in the Himalayas.
