Cinemas on the roof of the world

Bhutan :

Cinema reached this small country in the 1960s. At first, screenings were reserved for a small audience of civil servants and foreign visitors in the capital, Thimphu. King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck encouraged cultural openness, though infrastructure was nearly nonexistent. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, screenings were mostly held outdoors. Movie theaters appeared gradually in the 1990’s in Thimphu and Paro. Bhutanese audiences began to recognize cinema as a way to express and affirm a national identity. 1989 marked the creation of the first Bhutanese feature film: ‘Gasa Lamai Singye’ by Ugyen Wangdi, based on a tragic love legend reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. Wangdi later directed several documentaries, including ‘Price of Letter’ (2004), portraying a renowned Bhutanese postal worker who spent 26 years delivering mail-even to the most remote and inaccessible Himalayan villages, all year-round, often to illiterate recipients. Buddhist lama Khyentse Norbu placed Bhutan on the global cinematic map with films such as ‘The Cup’ (Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes 1999), ‘Travellers and Magicians’ (Venice Film Festival, 2003), ‘Vara: A Blessing’ (Tribeca, 2013), and ‘Hema Hema : Sing Me A Song While I Wait’ (Locarno, 2016), featuring Hong Kong star Tony Leung Chiu-wai. His most recent feature, ‘Pig at the Crossing’, was released digitally worldwide on May 11, 2024 and is part of this year’s retrospective in Vesoul. The film explores the afterlife journey of a YouTuber killed in a traffic accident while a married woman— with whom he had a brief affair-carries his unborn child. Another Bhutanese lama, Neten Chokling, gained international recognition with ‘Milarepa’ (2006), screened at the 16th Vesoul International Film Festival in 2010. Jamyang Dorj’s short film ‘The Container’ was selected at Cannes in 2011, and adresses social injustice and health inequality affecting vulnerable rural communities. In ‘In the Realm of the Gods’ (2011), Pema Tshering portrays Kaka, a masked dancer and teacher of traditional performance art, facing the socioeconomic challenges of a rapidly changing Bhutan. In 2021, Kelzang Dorjee directed ‘Why Is the Sky at Night?’, a contemplative film depicting the life and silent resilience of a pregnant butcher in a harsh environment. Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó premiered ‘The Next Guardian’, at IDFA in 2017. The film highlights religious and familial expectations placed on children, generational conflict, and the challenge of preserving tradition while respecting individual aspirations. Female filmmakers remain rare in Bhutan, yet some are remarkably prolific. Kesang Chuki has produced ten documentaries, docudramas, and shorts, including ‘Nangi Aums to Go-thrips’, featuring outspoken women who assume major public roles or political leadership. In 2015, Dechen Roder was selected at the Berlinale with ‘Lo Sum Choe Sum’ - ‘Three Years, Three Months, Three Days’, exploring the resilience, the spirituality and inner journey of transformation of a marginalized young woman. Roder later achieved international recognition with ‘Honeygiver Among The Dogs’ (2018), a genre-breaking mystical noir, which premiered at Locarno and was awarded in Vesoul. Her second feature ‘I, the Song’ premieres in competition in France at the 31st Vesoul festival in 2025. ‘The Monk and the Gun’ is the second feature by Pawo Choyning Dorji and represented Bhutan at the 96th Academy Awards. His previous film, ‘Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom’, also an Oscar contender, premiered in Vesoul in 2023. Dorji is spiritual and cinematographic disciple of his Buddhist master Khyentse Norbu. “The Monk and the Gun” is a philosophical comedy about citizenship and nonviolence, exploring the tension between traditional rural values and the growing occidental influence of modernity and technology, through the arrival of Internet, TV and consumerism.

Nepal :

Nepalese cinema emerged in the 1950s and has become a mirror of the country’s society and culture. Early films - often documentaries or works inspired by traditional theatre - evolved into social dramas, popular comedies, and politically-minded cinema. Ancient Nepalese films are difficult to access today, as many exist only in formats now obsolete. Digital technology may soon allow this fragile cinema to gain international recognition and momentum. Western fascination with Himalayan peaks persists. The Anglo-Canadian documentary ‘Everest Dark’ by Jereme Watt belongs to the long trzadition of expedition films but, unlike most, focuses not on climbers, but on the Sherpas, who face extreme danger while helping others reach the summit of the world and accomplish their dream.

Tibet :

After China’s annexion in 1950, cinema finally arrived in Tibet but mainly as a tool of propaganda and education. Films, produced in Mandarin by Beijing studios, were shown by travelling teams, from village to village. A truly Tibetan cinema would not emerge until the 21st century — led by the gifted filmmaker Pema Tseden (1969–2023), considered the father of Tibetan cinema. He was known for rejec- ting the romanticized and exotic representation of Tibet often seen in films by foreign filmmakers. In 2020, the Vesoul Film Festival presented a landmark focus on Tibetan cinema, giving audiences rare access to works until then never seen. In 32 years of the festival, Pema Tseden is the only filmmaker that have received three Golden Cyclos. His sudden and premature death left a profound mark.

Short films like ‘Fences’ by Rabden Yak and ‘The Boys and the Donkey’ by Tsering Yangjyab come from the production company Tseden founded and which is now run by his son, Jigme. Finally, a remarkable documentary, ‘Dark Red Forest’ by Chinese filmmaker Jin Huaqin, portrays thousands of Buddhist nuns spending the harshest 100 days of winter in tiny wooden huts scattered across the Tibetan plateau-forming a living, breathing forest of devotion. The film questions the place of spirituality in a changing world where tradition confronts modern pressures and politics.

Sikkim :

In the Kingdom of Sikkim, during British colonial rule, film screenings took place in exclusive clubs for the elite. After India’s independence in 1947, Indian films by Shantaram and Raj Kapoor, as well as Western films such as Jean Renoir’s poetic ‘The River’ (1951), were screened for an educated audience. In 1971, Indian master filmmaker Satyajit Ray shot the now-legendary documentary Sikkim at the request of the Chogyal, King Palden Thondup Namgyal. In 1975, the Indian army entered the Kingdom of Sikkim to end the antiroyalist unrest. After a referendum, the monarchy was ended and Sikkim joined India as its 22nd state. This very poetic film was banned from 1975 to 2010 since it was perceived as too favorable to the monarchy and remains today rarely seen. Sikkim is the birthplace of actor, filmmaker and businessman Danny Denzongpa. His career spans more than 200 films in multiple languages. He appeared alongside Brad Pitt in ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1997). Today, a regional cinema is emerging. ‘Shape of Momo’, by pioneering independent filmmaker Tribeny Rai, captures cultural transformation in a narrative inspired by Chinese master Jia Zhangke. The film reveals the challenges faced by women through a narration both poetic and realist.

Himalayan India :

As a democracy, India offers creative freedom to Indian, Western, and exiled Tibetan filmmakers. The majestic landscapes of Himalayan Indian continue to inspire filmmakers. ‘Valley of Flowers’ by Indian director Pan Nalin, loosely based on Alexandra David-Néel’s novel ‘Tibetan Tale of Love and Magic’, takes viewers to the highest peaks in the world. This Eastern (Asian Western) tells the story of a band of thieves who rob unwary travelers venturing into these arid and desolate lands. The leader finds eternal love beyond life, death and... reincarnation. This film, with its gorgeous imagery, is deeply inspired by Buddhist and Hindu spirituality. ‘Alexandra David-Néel, j’irai au pays des neiges’, by French filmmaker Joël Farges, makes the portrait of this exceptional woman, Tibetologist and writer. She’s brought to life on screen by the great actress Dominique Blanc. The screenplay is based on the correspondence between the explorer and her husband. Drawing on countless rushes filmed during ten years of traveling in the Himalayas, Véronique, Anne and Erik Lapied depict the world of Himalayan children in ‘Lhamo, Child of the Himalayas’. ‘State of Statelessness’ by Tenzin Tsetan Choklay, Sonam Tseten, Tsering Tashi Gyalthang, Tenzing Sonam & Ritu Sarin is an omnibus documentary dedicated to Tibetans living in exile around the world. Filming for them is a way of making sure Tibetan culture is not lost in the dispersion of its diaspora across the globe. L’Enfance d'un Maître (The Childhood of a Master) by Bruno Vienne and Jeanne Mascolo de Filippis is the result of 25 years of work and follows the extraordinary journey of Kalou Rinpoché, the young reincarnation of the great Tibetan master whose name he bears, from his birth to his twenty-fifth year. His Buddhist master, the first Tibetan monk to visit Europe, founded the great Paldenshangpa center in Burgundy. The French lama Hermès Sangye Garanger is his disciple. The Indian Himalayas (Ladakh, Himachal, Sikkim), with festivals like the Dharamshala International Film Festival created in 2012, play a key role in the creation of a trans-Himalayan film network.

At a time when the “roof of the world” — from Bhutan to the Himalayan regions of China, from Nepal to northern India — continues to fuel the imagination of many, there seems to be a new momentum building around the film industries emerging from these regions. Between the preservation of cultural identities, the rise of new technologies and a growing openness to international co-productions, these film industries now have unprecedented tools at their disposal to reinvent themselves without losing their essence. Whether they use documentaries to show the Himalayas as they are, fiction to dream or hybrid forms to experiment, Himalayan filmmakers are creating a unique voice, which can both dialogue with the world and remain rooted in their territories. The future of cinema from the roof of the world is thus taking shape in this delicate balance: remaining faithful to its roots while inventing new horizons.

Martine Thérouanne, festival director of VIFFAC