I, THE SONG
2024, 112 minutes, Bhutan/France/Norway/Italy, 1.85, Color, 5.1 Sound, in Dzongkha with English subtitles
Sales/Festivals: Diversion
Synopsis:
Nima, a teacher in the capital of Bhutan, is accused of being in a non-consensual pornographic video. To prove her innocence, she travels to the south of Bhutan in search of her lookalike in the video.
Once there, she is told her doppelgänger, Meto, has left Bhutan. Unconvinced, Nima digs deeper through close encounters with Meto’s friends and lovers.
A visit to Meto’s village confuses Nima further, as Meto's brother is convinced Meto is still in Bhutan, while her grandmother waits for Meto’s return from the city, after recovering a sacred song which was "stolen" by ‘city people’.
As Nima begins to unravel the fragments of Meto’s life, she becomes entangled in a web of uncertainty. But, as her anger towards Meto transforms into concern, she realizes she is the only one who can solve Meto’s disappearance and ‘recover’ the stolen song.
I, THE SONG is a film about exploitation, music, identity, love, and a culture balanced precariously on the threshold of a reckless digital age.
Director's Statement
Bhutan jumped into modernity in the 1960s. Before that
there were no roads, no formal education. My mother walked
twelve days through Bhutan to reach the border to go to
school in India. In 1989 our first feature film was made,
and in 1999 Internet and TV came to the country. In so
many ways we skipped a few steps, took huge leaps over
them. We jumped straight from a strong oral culture to a
visual culture of TV, films and digital media. We
didn’t pause to think in between. Our oral culture today
fades, facing a quiet and unpronounced death. During my
mother’s childhood it was the main form of storytelling,
and it was dynamic, rich, and informed her and her
generation about identity, their world, culture, and what
is important. Today, like all over the modern world, we
are confused. Is it possible to pause in this modern
frenzy, to take a moment and ponder sacredness, culture,
originality,
meaning and what is important.
About the Director:
Dechen Roder is one of the few female filmmakers from the
kingdom of Bhutan. She started off making small
documentaries and videos, through her production company –
Dakinny Productions, incepted in 2009. In 2015 she wrote and
directed LO SUM CHOE SUM (3 Year 3
Month Retreat), which competed in the Berlinale Shorts and
other festivals around world.
The same year she began production of her debut feature film - HONEYGIVER AMONG THE DOGS (recipient of the ACF 2016 post-production award and the HANIFF 2014 project market award) which premiered in Busan International Film Festival 2017, had its European premiere in Berlinale 2017 and won three awards at the Fribourg International Film Festival 2017. It was also the first film from Bhutan to be nominated for an Asia Pacific Screen Award 2017 in the Cultural Diversity category.
I, THE SONG is her second feature film. She is also the organizer and founder of the film festival - Beskop Tshechu.
