A $5,000 grant is awarded to the Indian filmmaker Torsha Banerjee for her project Mayal Kyung, the Secret Ancestral Village

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A traditional myth of the Lepcha indigenous community prophesies that the day the glow of city-lights reaches the holy Tholung monastery, it will destroy the untainted planet called Dzongu. Far from Gangtok, the glittering capital of the Himalayan state of Sikkim, Dzongu’s tranquility has never been disturbed; it is blessed with a pure darkness, a star-studded sky, puffy clouds and thick forests. The humid canopy provides warm shelter to the inhabitants, who are lulled to sleep by the streams running freely alongside their huts. In this world, mutual dependence is the secret that binds humans to nature.

Exploitation of the region’s natural resources threatens this natural interdependence, and with permanently altering the way of life and mentality of the Dzongu community, especially of women as they are more connected with the earth and its abundant resources. This film closely observes women as they become aware of what is being lost, and witnesses the transition and inevitable challenges presented by enforced changes to the environment.