Jigme Drukpa

Dondup, fonctionnaire dans un minuscule village des montagnes du Bhoutan, rêve de partir faire fortune aux Etats-Unis. Pour cela, il ne lui manque qu'un visa qu'il doit aller chercher à pied dans une lointaine grande ville. Il chemine avec un vendeur de pommes et un moine qui, jour après jour, lui raconte l'histoire de Tashi, un jeune fermier qui, lui aussi, voulait changer son existence mais vit ses plans modifiés par une rencontre amoureuse. Lorsqu'un marchand et sa très belle fille se joignent aux marcheurs, la fable du moine trouve, chez Dondup, un écho qui va changer son destin...

Imagine a country where happiness is the guiding principle of government. Imagine a people who see all life as sacred and the source of their happiness, a place with an abundance of clean and renewable energy, a nation committed to preserving its culture and whose progress is measured by obtaining Gross National Happiness for its people. Where is this Shangri-La? Bhutan. But can a place like Bhutan really exist? Can such ideals be realized? Can this small, geographically isolated country tucked away in the Himalayans truly protect its environment and culture as they open their doors to the West? The answer is rooted in the Bhutanese view of the world, anchored in Buddhism, with the simple message that happiness can only be found by taking the middle path the path that balances the needs of man with the powerful spirits of nature.

The Frisian singer Linde Nijland was always fond of the combination of traveling and singing. An invitation to listen to a concert in honor of the coronation of the fifth king of Bhutan was the ideal occasion in 2008 to make a months-long journey through South East together with multi-instrumentalist Bert Ridderbos.

The dazzling new film from Bhutanese lama and filmmaker Khyentse Norbu (The Cup, Travellers and Magicians) chronicles a sacred jungle ritual whose masked, anonymous participants seek after complete self-knowledge — or descend into thievery, violation, and murder.

Sangai, a teenage girl living with her father in a village of inland Bhutan, is not happy with her father, who makes wooden phalluses, believed to have mysterious power, and playing a festival clown with a red mask at a local festival. She reluctantly delivers the phalluses to neighbors but she is followed by dozens of men with red masks and costumes when walking through the hill. Conflict and tension grows between the father, who has concerns about his successor, and Sangai, who has a clandestine relationship with a married man.

Sangai, a teenage girl living with her father in a village of inland Bhutan, is not happy with her father, who makes wooden phalluses, believed to have mysterious power, and playing a festival clown with a red mask at a local festival. She reluctantly delivers the phalluses to neighbors but she is followed by dozens of men with red masks and costumes when walking through the hill. Conflict and tension grows between the father, who has concerns about his successor, and Sangai, who has a clandestine relationship with a married man.