Online May 2 - 4
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Indie Meme Special 10th Year
Retrospective Showcase
Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom
Bhutan | Narrative Feature
2019 | 109 mins | Dzongkha
Limited tickets available on site.
2022 Academy Award Nominee for 'Best International Feature'
A reluctant young teacher, Ugyen, finds himself assigned to the world’s most remote village school. Situated in Northern Bhutan, Lunana is an 8-day trek into the Himalayas - an alienating experience for the city-dwelling Ugyen, who plans to move to Australia to pursue music as soon as possible.
He arrives to find a welcoming community amid the beautiful but forbidding surroundings - and an especially eager student body, whose access to teachers and materials from outside has been inconsistent. Filmed using cameras operating on solar-powered batteries, and starring primarily villagers from the real Lunana in child & adult roles, this charming drama transports us to a rarely seen part of the globe.
Film Heritage Foundation used the best surviving elements for the restoration – the original camera negative and the 35 mm print preserved at the NFDC – NFAI. Unfortunately, the sound negative was not available. We digitized the sound from the 35 mm print preserved at Film Heritage Foundation. The film elements were repaired by the Film Heritage Foundation conservators and the scanning was done in Prasad Lab in Chennai We found that due to the deterioration of the print, there were vertical green lines on many parts of the film. While the scanning and digital clean-up was done at Prasad under the supervision of L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, the grading, sound restoration and mastering was done at the lab in Bologna. Both Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani, the cinematographer of the film, have been involved in the restoration of the film.
Restoration Process
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Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
The screening will be preceded by a performance by Specific Thing.
Specific Thing is the project of local musician Román. Sometimes he plays by himself and sometimes he plays with his snazzy band — he loves to do both! And the music? It draws from folk, punk, pop, latin, communism, animals, friends... He likes to keep it cartoony, quick, and catchy. The band released an album in 2025 called "Now Is Actually Not A Good Time". Find more at @specificthing on Instagram.
Meet Specific Thing
About the Artist
Photo courtesy:
Film Heritage Foundation
Pawo Choyning Dorji (Director & Writer) is a writer, photographer and filmmaker from the Kingdom of Bhutan. Pawo's introduction to film came in 2012 when he worked as Khyentse Norbu's assistant for the later's feature; Vara: A Blessing. In 2016 he produced the critically acclaimed Bhutanese feature Hema Hema: Sing me a song while I wait. The film had its world premiere at the 69th Festival del film Locarno and went on to win the Special Mention at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Trailer
Credits
Director:
Pawo Choyning Dorji
Writer:
Pawo Choyning Dorji
Producers:
Pawo Choyning Dorji
Steven Xiang
Stephanie Lai
Jia Honglin
Film Editor:
Ku Hsiao-Yun
Sherab Dorji
Ugyen Norbu Lhendup
Kelden Lhamo Gurung
Pema Zam
Restoration Effort Led By: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation
Restoration Credit:
Restored by Film Heritage Foundation in association with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul), the cinematographer Govind Nihalani and the director Shyam Benegal. Funding supported by Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul)