The documentary film Sherpas Amidst the Midst has been chosen for screening at the London Himalayan Short Film Festival, which will be held at Brunel University London on 6th of April 2024. This year’s film festival theme, “Mangkolen,” translates to “Tomorrow” and is shaped by communities' collective visions and deeply embedded in the cultural and natural environment. Mangkolen encapsulates the concept of past, present, and future in relation to Himalayan issues.
The film Sherpas Amidist the Mist poignantly portrays the last Indigenous family residing in the village of Srikhola in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal across the Nepal border in the Himalayas, dedicated to the age-old practice of Yak herding. The documentary delves into this community's unique cultural heritage and traditional livelihoods, and it is a testament to the resilience and rich heritage of Indigenous peoples in the Third Pole Himalayan region. Hence, the film is a tribute to the perseverance and cultural significance of Indigenous communities and their invaluable contributions to our global heritage.
As part of the Interdisciplinary Curricula on Indigenous and Tribal Studies in the Arctic and India project hosted at the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM) of the Arctic Centre, students from Sikkim University in India produced this cinematic masterpiece. The Finnish National Agency for Education (Edu-Fi) funded the project. The collaborative partners to the film project are the UArctic Chair in Arctic Legal Research and Education and the Arctic Law Thematic Network, and Sikkim University.
The documentary film project was conducted by a team of students headed and coordinated by Ms. Yashika Subba and directed and scripted by Ms. Ayushi Nirola from Sikkim University under the guidance and support of Profs. Kotra Rama Mohan (Sikkim University) and Kamrul Hossain (University of Lapland). The documentary film is stored at the University of Lapland’s Arctic Centre’s YouTube site at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3eCm5zn7Sk