Documentary film on Pang Lhabsol to premiere on Wednesday

Pang Lhanbsol, a festival unique to Sikkim held in worship of its guardian deity Dzonga and Sikkim's other land guardian deities, falls on Saturday, 29 August, this year. Making the celebrations even more special this time will be the release of a documentary film on the festival, “Pang Lhabsol: Sikkim’s National Ritual of the Land and its Guardian Deities”, on Wednesday, 26 August. Produced by the Namgyal Instituted of Tibetology and helmed by Dr. Anna Balikci Denjongpa as Anthropologist and Project Coordinator, the 1:06 hour long documentary features cinematography by Phurba T. Bhutia [who has also edited the feature], Birendra Rai and Dawa T. Lepcha. Filmed at location across Sikkim over the past decade or so, the documentary, in keeping with other NIT productions, promises to be exhaustive and authoritative. The premiere is scheduled for 26 August, 2 p.m. at the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology and is open to all.

Documentary on Tibetan struggle and music to be screened in Gangtok

MUSICIAN FILMMAKER TO PRESENT “JOURNEY OF A DREAM,” A POLITICAL ROCK-U-MENTARY, AT B.R.E.W
GANGTOK, 18 Oct: A Tibetan political rock-u-mentary, a first for the exiled community, titled ‘Journey of a Dream’ will be screened at B.R.E.W, Sichey on 27 October at 6 PM.
“After touring international film festivals, the Tibetan activist, filmmaker and musician Shenpenn Khymsar, who grew up in Darjeeling and now lives in Vancouver, Canada, finally brings his documentary back to the Himalayas, from where he set off on his journey,” a press communiqué announcing the screening informs.
The film begins with a personal narrative, but then goes on to become a powerful and unconventional documentary on the struggle of the Tibetan people. It combines political filmmaking with an ethno-musical study and places its focus on rock music as an outlet for frustration and a means of expression for an entire young generation in these hills and around the globe.
The director Shenpenn Khymsar will be present at B.R.E.W for the screening to answer all questions and inquiries about the feature documentary, the release informs. He will also talk about his new film projects and on ‘Why Tibet matters? And what is our role?’
The event will be rounded off with acoustic live music.

NFDC team films rural development initiatives in South Sikkim

NAMCHI, 17 Feb: To highlight rural development in Sikkim, a five-member team led by Pragyan Bhattacharya, head of Delhi-based e-Media Solution is currently in South Sikkim. The team is here to highlight rural development and at the same time focus on Bharat Nirman Volunteers and the various work carried out under Bharat Nirman.
The purpose of their visit is to make training films and a documentary to stir up the process of rural development and at the same time also to create awareness on rural development. The team will be touring across South Sikkim for a period of 15 days which began on 11 February.
This team from e-Media Solution represents the National Film Division Corporation (NFDC) which is making the documentary along with training films for the State Institute for Rural Development (SIRD) and also for all institutes involved in rural development. The team has already visited places like Salghari, Tinik-Chisopani, Poklok-Denchung and Mellidara in the South District. Besides this, it is for the first time that such a documentary is being made in the Nepali language by the Ministry of Rural Development.
Simultaneously, similar projects are under progress in other states as well. In the days to come the documentary prepared in Nepali language based on rural development in South Sikkim would be translated into other regional languages so that it would help and provide an example for the people of other states, informed the members of the team.

Dawa’s “Ritual Journeys” bags jury’s Commendation at RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Films

GANGTOK, 04 Aug: Filmmaker Dawa Lepcha is back from the 12th Royal Anthropological Institute International Festival of Ethnographic Film held in London from 23-26 June 2011. Featured in the Intangible Culture category, Dawa’s 75-minute documentary film, “Ritual Journeys”, was screened at the festival on 25 June. This poignant portrayal of the life and tasks of Meryak Lepcha, an 80-year-old Padim [Bongthing] of Dzongu, was put together from footage shot by Dawa over seven years of interactions with the Padim and the sensitivity with which the material has been put together is borne out by the Commendation Certificate awarded by the panel of festival judges to “Ritual Journeys”.