Two years ago, while serving on the jury of the Beskop Tshechu (Bioscope Festival) 2011, the first international festival of documentary and short films held in Thimphu, I met Ugyen Wangdi, the pioneering documentary filmmaker in Bhutan. Half-jokingly – and paraphrasing Werner Herzog – he'd declared that "independent film is a myth. Films are dependent on money and a distribution system. Here there is neither. We may be the few idealists around struggling to make an impact which nobody takes seriously."
Wangdi should know. He graduated from the Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, in 1984 but has not been able to make more than a handful of independent documentaries despite the fact that his films have received many awards at international festivals. To earn a living, he works as a production coordinator for foreign television crews, and also runs his own travel agency. "In Bhutan, audiences flock in large numbers to see mainstream movies but remain unaware of other genres such as documentaries and short fiction. Cinema halls are allowed to screen only Bhutanese feature films, most of which are Bollywood imitations. They are so popular that movie halls in the capital are booked till the following year for releases; villages and towns outside Thimphu wait excitedly for those films to do the rounds. But for short filmmakers there are many constraints: no grants or recognition; no regular venues for screenings, no film festivals. All this can be disheartening for new entrants in the field."
Yet it seems that things are changing, albeit slowly, thanks to the efforts of a few filmmakers, artists and other volunteers who staged the second edition of the Beskop Tshechu from 5-10 September in Thimphu. Launched in celebration of the 'historic' royal wedding in 2011, the festival's second installment consisted of five days of film screenings, all of which were free and open to the public.
Eleven films (four documentaries, four fiction shorts and three animation videos) were showcased across three competitive categories open to Bhutanese productions. A special category paid tribute to Bhutanese classics such as Ugyen Wangdi's Yi Khel Gi Kawa (Price of A Letter, 2004). Wangdi's documentary follows 49 year-old Ugen Tenzin, a postal runner for 26 years, who walks for twelve to fifteen days every month to deliver letters, be it winter when the route is snow bound, or mid-summer when the monsoons lash out. Despite the odds, the risk involved, the tiring ascents and descents of high mountains and valleys, Ugen will continue until retirement. He has experienced life both in the bustling city of Thimphu and his quiet village, Lingshi, located at a height of 12,000 ft. Given the choice, it's home that's best, even if it takes four days to get there.