Dharamshala: The ongoing Dharamshala International Film Festival has brought together films and filmmakers from across the world – including one from the picturesque city of Ladakh. The existence of a mini film industry in Ladakh comes as no surprise, but the fact that they rarely have any distributors for their short films, features and documentaries, is a shocking revelation in itself.
Stanzin Dorjai who has helmed the The Shepherdess of the Glaciers says that it’s exigent to make a documentary in Ladakh. “It’s like everywhere in India – Bollywood is the most powerful. We make more of feature films and small budget film – for which the audience is small. It’s quite challenging to make a documentary. It’s more like an expensive hobby.”
When asked about the distribution of Ladakhi curated films, he quickly says, “there’s nothing at all”.
“First thing is that being a filmmaker is considered to be nothing. My family often asks me, how is filmmaking a job,” adds the filmmaker.
He highlights the fact that even if directors are confident to distribute their work across the world, the producers and distributors are always wary of it. “There is confidence in filmmakers, but producers and distributors are still not confident. There’s no market for them”.
He further suggests that India, like the West, should come up with more channels which feature documentaries.
His latest documentary The Shepherdess of the Glaciers presents the story of a shepherdess, living in the Gya-Miru Valley, whose only window to the outside world is a transistor.
He also feels that independent filmmakers should break free from the usual style of filmmaking and bring something original on-screen. “We need to write something very original. We always follow a set pattern of music and narration. We need to break free from them. Originality is still lacking in Indian documentaries.”
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