{"id":5266,"date":"2025-09-10T18:18:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T11:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/?p=5266"},"modified":"2025-09-10T18:18:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T11:18:25","slug":"spotlight-bhutans-transcendent-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/highlight\/spotlight-bhutans-transcendent-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight : Bhutan\u2019s Transcendent Cinema"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 Spotlight :<\/h1>\n

Bhutan\u2019s Transcendent Cinema<\/h1>\n
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The first thing to strike you, like an ancient temple bell, upon encountering cinema from Bhutan is this most intimate recognition: why are these luminous films from the high Himalayas more revelatory of the Thai cosmic mind, our view and sense of nature and elemental forces, of social propriety and social hypocrisy, of life and death, than most of Thai cinema, horror, arthouse or otherwise? They are not pale imitations of Hollywood or European art films. They are most assuredly themselves; their immediacy of experience expressed with full cinematic power to blow away your mind.<\/div>\n
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Curated by Rosey Stone<\/h3>\n
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\"\u2b07\ufe0f\"<\/span> First Programme<\/h2>\n
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\"\"<\/span> Pig at the Crossing<\/h2>\n
Bhutan<\/div>\n
119 mins<\/div>\n
Dzongkha & English \/ with English subtitles<\/div>\n

Khyentse Norbu<\/h3>\n
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\u2018Pig at the Crossing\u2019 is quite simply one of the most potent films ever made. A cinematic Death Meditation by a monk director may not sound like your idea of entertainment, but it grabs you by the roots of your heart from the \u2018we are just pig meat\u2019 scene, and tosses you out of your carcass to wander frantically among literal lost souls until unfinished business is done and you can move on. Some horror movies aim to make you scream but this is horror to make you shiver\u2014a piercing immersion in what both the Bible and the I Ching call \u201cfear and trembling\u201d. Director Khyentse Norbu (Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche) of The Cup fame is festooned with international awards and this movie is awesome but, oddly, it never went to the big festivals. Here\u2019s the proof, if you still needed any, that the film festival circuit is broken.<\/div>\n
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(Alice Skinhead)<\/div>\n
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Trailer : https:\/\/youtu.be\/WM4fxk88V2Y<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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\"\u2b07\ufe0f\"<\/span> 2nd Programme<\/h2>\n
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\"\"<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\ufe0f\u200d\u2642\ufe0f\"<\/span>\"\u26f0\ufe0f\"<\/span>\"\"<\/span>Honeygiver Among the Dogs<\/h2>\n
Bhutan<\/div>\n
135 mins<\/div>\n
English subtitles<\/div>\n

Dechen Roder<\/h3>\n
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Remote, superstitious (and resource-rich) village. Night. XCU grass blades being trampled by police boots on a literal witch-hunt. The cliff is blood-stained, the abbess of a Buddhist monastery has gone missing and the village idiot has blamed \u201cthe Demoness Chedu\u201d, described as \u201cBeautiful. Scary. Flirtatious.\u201d Oh-oh! Authorised female spirituality has been murdered by unsanctioned, ancient and forbidden female mysticism, much feared and suppressed by the religious patriarchy. Chedu\u2019s young niece runs off to warn her aunt, who gives one last parting advice, woman to little girl: \u201cStand by what you believe to be true.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Fruitlessly Kinley the dashing cop tracks the fugitive, but it is the Dakini (Skydancer\/Demoness\/Goddess, possibly like the Thai \u2018Chi Ploey\u2019\u2014\u201cnaked nuns\/mystics\u201d who \u201cwear the wind and sky\u201d) who finds and bewitches him. Similar resonance can be found between \u201choneygiver among the dogs\u201d and the Thai saying \u201cviolinist among the buffaloes\u201d, amidst tales of Dakini persecution through the ages. A haunting and pleasurable Bhutan murder mystery that\u2019s beautiful, surprising and, yes, mystical.<\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
(Alice Skinhead)<\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
Trailer : https:\/\/youtu.be\/Ck1g9OgZBz0?si=eTW2xeLcdtJKaK5S<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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\"\"<\/span> Ticket 160 Baht \/ Seat<\/div>\n
[Tickets Available in front of the cinema]<\/div>\n
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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 Spotlight : Bhutan\u2019s Transcendent Cinema . The first thing to strike you, like an ancient temple bell, upon encountering cinema from Bhutan is this most intimate recognition: why are these luminous films from the high Himalayas more revelatory of the Thai cosmic mind, our view and sense of nature and elemental forces, of social propriety […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5268,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5266\/revisions\/5268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}