The year in Bhutanese cinema
6 January 2010
From releasing Sungchop Magmi, which took six years in the making, to Return of Ata Khawjay to receiving a gold medal from His Majesty, 2009 was an exciting year for the burgeoning Bhutanese movie industry.
In total, 18 films were produced, out of which only five made it to the theatres in Thimphu. Karma Entertainment’s Sem da Sem and Dechen Pem’s Sem ge Damtshe were among the commercially successful films of the year.
Sem da Sem also became the Bhutanese film to be screened at the Palace and was reportedly watched and appreciated by His Majesty.
Sem ge Jurwa was well received by the review board as it carried a lot of social messages.
Far away girl, produced by a new team, was also well received. O ther films like Chorten Kora, which is based on nomadic lifestyle, City of Dreams, which dwells on the urban lifestyle, 4 Friends, a film by a woman director, Karma Deki, were also released last year.
The last film to be released was Sergi Zhongm, which centres on livestock and rural-urban migration. While all the films were produced within the range of Nu 1.5 to Nu 2 million on average, the producer of Return of Ata Khawjay claims to have spent more than Nu 2 million.
Actor Chencho Dorji dominated as the male protagonist in most of the films. The 27-year-old actor, who acted in five films last year, says he gave his best in every film. I n 2008, a number of female actors had been introduced but in 2009, senior female actors stole the limelight.
Tshering Wangyel directed four films, the maximum number in the year. The year also saw the making of a big budget film by NT Sound and Vision starring the Bhutanese Bollywood actor, Kelley Dorji.
Achievements
According to Motion Picture Association of Bhutan (MPAB), the Bhutanese cinema’s greatest achievement in the past year was dominating the local market not only in Thimphu, but also in the southern region. Earlier, Bollywood films had dominated local theatres in the south.
The gold medal awarded to the association by His Majesty was another achievement. “Getting recognition from the highest level was indeed an achievement,” said Sherub Gyeltshen, the general secretary of MPAB.
Difficulties
However, with the upcoming theatres in Chubachu and twin theatre in Olakha in Thimphu, the problem is expected to be addressed.
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I like to congratulate the Bhutanese movie industry for the wonderful work it has been doing. Aside from substituting the Bolywood movies with our own, Bhutanese cinema has also contributed much to the development of our culture and national language. However a word of caution is use of Dzonglish (mix of Dzongkha and English) must be avoided in the films.
The public want to see professional actor/actress, not just class x and XII dropouts in those roles. Thats one reason why Bhutanese films dont win international awards. Make it professonal.
སྐུ་གཟུགས་བཟང་བོ།
Bhutanese movie industry should eye on market in Tibet areas of China. Even though the Bhutanese movies could not land in theaters in Tibetan areas yet, the Cup, the Traveler & Magician are the hottest shared movies among Tibetan population in China.
བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།
i am really glad that the Bhutanese movies are greatly admired by my indian frens. go on and on…..
We received a number of feature films in the past years from Bhutan, Nepal and India. It’s a structural, basic issue: the lack of good quality acting skills. Structure of the film, technical issues, storyline are usual more than fine. When an actor cannot convince the viewer the film is usually lost within the first minutes.
i am very happy and really proud that our film industry is growing better and better year by year.. am fan of chencho dorji, wow! his acting kills me..
i am really proud that main objective of motion picture association of Bhutan is to preserve our cultural and promote national language DZONGKHA. but i don’t think ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????