The Next Guardian | 74 mins | 2017 | Bhutan

Dir: Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbo
Streaming dates: 2 - 5 June, 2023

Q&A session: 5 June | 5:00 pm IST | 5:30 pm BTT | 5:00 pm SLST | 5:15 pm NPT

Logline: A love-filled portrait of a family in Bhutan. The daughter wants to be a soccer pro, while the son has doubts about becoming a monk.

Synopsis: In a Himalayan village, Gyembo and Tashi, a brother and sister, lead a normal life as teenagers. They love soccer and their phones. Their father oversees a Buddhist temple that has been in the family for generations. He hopes his son, Gyembo, will one day take over his duties and leave his modern English-language school in favor of a monk school. In this thoughtful and tender portrait of a Bhutanese family, the generation gap is as large as their love for one another. Celibacy doesn't offer an enticing future to an adolescent boy, which Gyembo’s father understands. Nonetheless, he still tries to convince his son that being a monk offers many advantages. Meanwhile, Tashi feels more like a boy than a girl, and dreams of a life as a pro soccer player. She wants to attend a soccer camp that would be the first step in being selected for the national team. Unfortunately, though happiness is high on the political agenda in Bhutan, not all wishes come true.
 
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➡️ Process:

👉🏽 Once you sign-up and your request is accepted, you will receive an email from our team on the evening of Friday, 2 June 2023 with the screening link and password. We request that you keep the link and password to yourself to safeguard the film against piracy. The link will be active for three days.
👉🏽 The screening of the documentary will be followed by a Q&A session with the director on Monday, 5 June 2023 (see times above). You will also receive a Zoom link for the Q&A via email.

➡️ Note: Due to the large number of sign-ups, we will give preference to the first 100 sign-up requests.

➡️ For queries, write to us at alok@filmsouthasia.org

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At Screen Southasia, we host monthly online screenings of compelling documentaries from the region, including Nepal, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka. We present a diverse range of films, both classic and new, that showcase the unique cultures, histories and perspectives of Southasia.

Screen Southasia is a partnership between Himal Southasian and Film Southasia.
 
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