January 2, Kathmandu. The movie ‘Snow Song’ has been shot in America. The movie was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio, in a studio equipped with facilities for filming Hollywood movies.
Bimal Subedi has directed the film, written jointly with director and actor Joysh Pandey, who is known for the film ‘Sanghuro’. The film entered the editing stage with the final scene being shot in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
This movie, which contains the story of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese and Nepalese immigrants, tells the story of the dreams, aspirations and struggles of different generations born in Bhutan, Nepal and America.
One family, but through the members of different generations, environments and experiences, the film shows the structural and psychological effects of the entire Nepali-speaking Bhutanese family before being expelled from their own country, after being expelled from the brutal torture planned by the government, to the refugee camps in Nepal and after coming to America.
Writer and director Bimal Subedi, who started formal study and practice of theater through the Cultural Institute, has studied various dimensions of theater from the National School of Drama in New Delhi, India.
After returning from Delhi to Kathmandu, Subedi, who is active in playwriting, directing and art direction, teaching through Theater Village, has done a lot of work on Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and India.
‘Snow song’ was planted 12 years ago. Subedi later presented it as a play in India, for which he also won the very famous 3 Meta Awards. Last year, a musical play was also made in the US on the same story under the name “Hitler is coming”.
This film will also be the first visual historical document of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese, Director Subedi says, ‘This film has been prepared based on the experience of meeting and listening to hundreds of people who have read, listened to and heard stories since childhood and met during the production of plays from refugee camps in Nepal.
I have tried to visualize not only the experiences of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese who have suffered barbaric torture, but also the events secretly planned by the state apparatus of Bhutan before being chased out of the country in the style of Nepali original stories. But it does not only tell the story of Bhutanese Nepalese, it covers the story of immigrants from all over the world who came to America.’
Subedi, who has made a national and international recognition in the theater genre, said that the film was shot in two ways using the craft of this play. Different groups will work in parallel on film editing, sound, music, color combination and behind-the-scenes work. Another film with a different narrative structure is named “The Snow is Singing”.
Zia Kuinkel Khatiwada, Karun Kuinkel, Kaushila Khanal Karmacharya are the executive producers while Manorath Khanal, Rakesh Bhattarai, Ramesh Luintel are the co-producers. The film is produced by Joyash Pandey, Bimal Subedi and Samundra Raj Ghimire under Happy Home Studios.
Theater Village and Village Studios will collaborate on the final stage of the film production, facilitated by the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese community around Akron, Ohio, Columbus, Pennsylvania.
Varsha Raut, Joyash Pandey, Pooja Chand, Akash Khatiwada, Ishir Akharay, Thomas Keith Scott in lead roles and Kedar Upreti, R. b. Khadka, Arjun Rasaili, Sameer Regmi, Manorath Khanal, Neelam Khanal, Ishaan Karmacharya, Crystal Parajuli, Angelina Parajuli, Joshan Ramdam, Nirmal Khanal, Vishnu Ramdam, Michelle Scott, Ayush Bhattarai, Naveen Khanal, Joshika Ramdam and various local and foreign actors. The film featured Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Ohio More than four dozen artists from Cuyahoga Falls, Akron, Columbus, Sunshine Taekwondo and Dance Academy, Inta Foundation performed.
Filmmakers from Nepal, Bhutan, Taiwan, China, Mexico have worked in the film. The film is directed by Chin In Gau and edited by Nishan Ghimire. Ayusha Sanjel is the assistant director of the film, the film has sound recording and editing by Dikesh Khadgi Shahi, art direction by Deukumar Rai led group, dance direction by Shankar Bisi and Kaushila Khanal.
Kaushila Khanal staff, R. b. Khadka, Dumbar Nepali, Pratima Shrestha’s words, and Kali Prasad Baskota, Madan Gopal, Dumbar Nepali, Arjun Rasaili’s music and vocals.
