Renowned Bhutanese filmmaker Khyentse Norbu is set to push his latest film Pig At The Crossing online for a second time through self-organized virtual screenings after being rejected by more than 30 film festivals.
Norbu, whose previous films have been selected for Toronto, Venice, Locarno and Busan, shot his latest feature entirely in Bhutan and deals with the complexity of what happens when we die. The protagonist is a young YouTube creator who dies in an accident and must choose between letting go of his attachment to his former self or being trapped in a dream-like in-between state.
The film had a virtual world premiere on May 11 through a one-day live broadcast in five different time zones across the globe. Due to an enthusiastic response, it will be back online, with the next virtual screening scheduled on August 17. This time, it will adopt the video-on-demand format, allowing audiences who have purchased the tickets to have access to the film for 72 hours.
It marks the sixth film by Norbu, who is also an accomplished spiritual master and Buddhist lama. His previous credits include 1999 feature debut The Cup, Bhutan’s first-ever submission for the Oscars; Vara: A Blessing, which opened Busan International Film Festival in 2013; and Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait, which premiered at Locarno in 2016 and won a special mention at Toronto’s Platform section.
“In filmmaking and in life, particularly in media and communication, the biggest challenge is balancing uniqueness with universality,” director Norbu told Screen. “There’s always a struggle, especially in film, because you need to be somewhat universal for people to watch it. At the same time, we want to tell our own unique story. Given this, it wasn’t too surprising that our film didn’t make it into many festivals.”
However, he is happy that more than 12,000 people have watched the film virtually to date, likely far more than if it had gone the festival route. He highly recommends this alternative approach to aspiring filmmakers “who aren’t constrained by big-budget studio contracts or box office demands”.
Produced by Bhutan-based Norling Studios, Norbu made the film with a group of local amateur filmmakers and mostly first-time actors in a bid to nurture art and film in his country.
He worked with leading directors of photography such as Mark Lee Ping-bin and Bradford Young and stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Zhou Xun in his previous films.
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