What is "The Snow is Singing" about?
Answer: It's an experimental, multi-generational film exploring the impact of cultural genocide, forced displacement, and intergenerational trauma on the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese community in the United States. It examines their personal and collective aftermath of exile.
Who directed "The Snow is Singing"?
Answer: Bimal Subedi directed the film.
What are some of the key themes explored in the film?
Answer: The film explores cultural genocide, forced displacement, intergenerational trauma, identity, the illusion of safety, and the contradictions within U.S. immigration policies.
Who are the main characters in the film?
Answer: The film centers on a Bhutanese American family, including Ishir (an 8-year-old boy), his parents Prashant and Mannata, and his grandparents Mahasoor and Pampha Khadka.
What is the historical context of the film?
Answer: The film is set against the backdrop of the forced expulsion of over 100,000 ethnic Nepali Lhotshampas from Bhutan in the 1980s and 1990s, their time in Nepalese refugee camps, and their subsequent resettlement in countries like the United States.
How does the film approach its storytelling? What makes it visually unique?
Answer: The film blends realism with theatrical storytelling, incorporating personal narratives, poetic metaphors, expressive movement, and a child's drawings as a visual thread. Director Bimal Subedi, with over 25 years of theater experience from Actors Studio, Nepal, and graduation from India's National School of Drama, along with his own "Theater Village," uniquely applies theatrical elements in a cinematic way, making the visuals distinct.
What is the significance of the title, "The Snow is Singing"?
Answer: The director's statement suggests it's a metaphor for how even pain can have a resonance or "melody of life," and that sometimes pain isn't a harsh cry but an echo of deeper realities. It connects to memories of home and the community's way of remembering.
Does the film feature actors who have lived through these experiences? How was the film supported?
Answer: Yes, Aakash Khatiwada, who plays Mahasoor Khadka, was exiled from Bhutan. The film received significant support from the Bhutanese refugee community. Some provided funds, while others offered free locations like their homes and shops. Notably, in a display of hospitality reminiscent of rural villages in Nepal, India, and Bhutan, community members also provided free food to the cast and crew, a generosity considered invaluable. Ishir Karmacharya, who plays Ishir, has a Nepali immigrant father and a Bhutanese refugee mother.
What is the logline of the film?
Answer: Haunted by Bhutan’s legacy of cultural genocide, four generations confront hidden traumas, plunging a grandson into a psychological battle as he uncovers his grandparents' buried past, where long-buried secrets and haunting memories collide in a desperate quest for redemption.
What is one of the unique visual elements used in the film?
Answer: Ishir's drawings serve as a powerful visual language, helping him process the ancestral trauma passed down to him and blurring the lines between memory and metaphor.