Word: norbu
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...bright, chilly day in early November, a stretch of this humble road near the tiny hamlet of Chendebji bears witness to an unprecedented event: the shooting of Bhutan's first-ever homegrown feature film. Its writer and director, Khyentse Norbu, bundled against the wind in a thick, maroon turtleneck and pale lavender muffler, pulls his baseball cap low over his eyes and instructs the cameraman to focus on four actors by the side of the road. "Again," he says into a walkie-talkie, and a red tractor emerges from around the bend to collect two of the actors?one dressed...
...most directors, shooting a film is a chance to be treated like a deity. For Khyentse Norbu, better known as Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, the reincarnation of a 19th century Tibetan saint and one of Himalayan Buddhism's most revered lamas, it's just the opposite. "Mostly when I come to Bhutan I'm supposed to play God," explains the youthful 41-year-old, "which has been such a frustration for me for so many years." What he craves, he says, is the chance to "climb down from my throne and speak to ordinary people. I wish I could...
...shoot The Cup, a film based on the true story of the young resident monks' impious obsession with World Cup football. "Buddhism is their philosophy," read the posters. "Soccer is their religion." The Cup employed not a single professional actor. Most of the characters played themselves, and Khyentse Norbu shot the whole piece without ever fully explaining to the cast members that they were re-enacting their own story. "Everyone knew me at the monastery. Everyone was comfortable with me," he says. "And that made it relatively easy to do what I wanted." He consulted mo, an ancient divination system...
...kingdom couldn't be less suited to the mechanics of moviemaking. Cameras must be lugged up treacherous footpaths, electricity is scarce, and film must be flown out on one of the country's only two planes for processing in Bangkok. Television came to Bhutan in 1999. And, says Khyentse Norbu, those Bhutanese who know what movies are regard them as purveyances of violence and sex?hardly an appropriate hobby for a reincarnate saint. Gaining permission to bring the 16 foreigners in his crew of 108 to Bhutan, Khyentse Norbu knew, wouldn't be simple. The $1.8 million budget...
...Khyentse Norbu's status as a beloved spiritual leader opens doors, it is also a potential obstacle. When he began selecting the all-Bhutanese cast last summer, several of those chosen to audition were so awed to be in his presence that they became speechless. Khyentse Norbu worried that his script, which includes several fairly racy romantic bits, might be impossible to execute if he were the one in the director's chair. But these worries were mostly unfounded. The cast he ultimately assembled includes a folklore scholar who plays a monk, a monk trained in pure mathematics who plays...