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writer/director Khyentse Norbu, Vara: A Blessing poster
While studying in England in the 1990s, Bhutanese lama, filmmaker and writer Khyentse Norbu—considered an incarnation of a famous 19th-century Tibetan spiritual leader who goes by the ecclesiastical title His Eminence Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche—became a consultant for Bernardo’s Bertolucci’s Little Buddha (1993). Since that experience Norbu was bitten by the filmmaking bug and began seriously watching and studying films, notably those by Indian director Satyajit Ray, whom he admires. A few years later, he wrote and directed The Cup (1999), about a monk who does everything humanly possible to watch the World Cup in a monastery, followed by Travellers & Magicians (2003), the first full-length feature film shot in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, masterfully depicting social change with mystery, passion and magic.
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Devesh Ranjan, Shahana Goswami in Vara: A Blessing
Norbu’s newest film, Vara: A Blessing—the first English language feature film by a Bhutanese film director—is set to premiere at Miami International Film Festival’s mid-season mini Festival MIFFecito next week. A veritable feast for the senses, Vara: A Blessing is the melodramatic tale of forbidden love between Lila (Shahana Goswami), a Hindi dancer “married” to Krishna, and Shyam (Devesh Ranjan), a low-caste Muslim with dreams of becoming a sculptor. In a perilous move, Lila accepts Shyam’s invitation to pose for his sculpture of Saraswati, the goddess of art and knowledge. Complications ensue when the village elders move toward marrying Lila to a wealthy scion. Layered with passion, the film presents ravishing visuals in a beguiling world of love, devotion, and an abundance of traditional Indian dance and music set against the lush countryside of an Indian village that has not yet caught up with the modern world.
The Florida Premiere of Vara: A Blessing on Saturday, October 18 at 7:00 PM will be preceded by a special dance performance by Belly Motions’ Bollywood Girls at MDC’s Tower Theater. Visit miff2020.wpengine.com or call 1-844-565-6433 (MIFF) for tickets. —Tatyana Chiocchetti[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
