According to “Is That a Lama Behind the Camera,” Anupama Chopra’s great article in the New York Times on Bhutan’s budding film industry, last year a record 24 films were produced in the tiny Himalayan kingdom, population 700,000; in 2003 the total was only six. Even though there were only ten films produced in the country in 2005, delightful movie posters announced screenings in the theaters or public halls of every town I traveled through. The article describes a trend towards song-and-dance fantasy, but the movies that caught my eye had taglines that sounded far more realistic: “Muensel — True love comes… and goes,” “Ratho Namgay — bungling along a lifetime achievement of failure,” and “Kikhor — the drama of life begins at home, within the family.” It’s clear that while the dialogue is in Dzongkha and the costumes are traditionally Bhutanese, the themes are universal.

• I highly recommend Kyentse Norbu’s wonderful movie, “Travellers & Magicians .”
• Keep your eyes open for “Journey with Robert Thurman in Bhutan” coming soon. (You can enjoy a taste now at the Bob Thurman Podcast - the latest post, Part II of his George Lucas interview is fascinating.)
• Interesting related journal article (where I found numbers for 2005): “Roar of the Thunder Dragon: The Bhutanese Audio-visual Industry and the Shaping and Representation of Contemporary Culture” by Tshewang Dendup in the Journal of Bhutan Studies, Volume 14, Summer 2006.