UrbanWire

Bhutanese director Khyentse Norbu enlightens us about the challenges of being a filmmaker today and his latest masterpiece Travellers & Magicians.

By Mary-Ann Russon · UrbanWire
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We won't blame you if you don't know who he is, let alone what's his real name. Khyentse Norbu (pronounced "key-en-say nor-boo") is the director of art house film Travellers & Magicians (released May 13 at Golden Village) and his real title is His Eminence Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. Oh, and just as you're digesting that, he's also the 3rd incarnate of a 19th century Tibetan Buddhist saint, according to the Official Website.

But like the soccer-mad monks of his award-winning 1st film, The Cup (Palm Pictures, 1999), Khyentse Norbu isn't at all what you'd imagine a Tibetan high lama to be. Instead, he's an avid filmmaker with lofty dreams - 1 of which he realises with Travellers & Magicians.

Shot entirely in Dzongkha, Bhutan (a tiny Himalayan kingdom), Travellers & Magicians is about a young government officer named Dondup, who wants to leave Bhutan for better prospects in America. Just like his lead character, Khyentse Norbu received better prospects overseas when his film, The Cup, won critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival and British newspaper The Independent called him the "Most Inscrutable Filmmaker".

In an exclusive interview, we talk to this modern monk about his scintillating and intense love affair with… the camera.

Khyentse Norbu: I wanted to introduce Bhutan to the rest of the world before there're 200 McDonalds, 100 Burger Kings, 100 Starbucks, 50 KFCs, polluted water [and] deforestation.

UW: You've been friends with your producer, Malcolm Watson, for 14 years and he was once your student. How would you describe your relationship with him?

Khyentse Norbu: Well, I don't see him as my student, but more as an apprentice. I'm showing him the way, guiding him, passing on knowledge but for all I know, he might achieve enlightenment before me! So he's really my apprentice.

UW: So how would you describe your relationship with him now that he's your producer?

Khyentse Norbu: Oh that's easy! When I need money for my movie, I ask him for money!

UW: Your previous film The Cup showed Buddhist monks as more than just being 1-dimensional. What's the essential message Travellers & Magicians is sending out this time?

Khyentse Norbu: Well, when I was making the movie I wasn't thinking of the message at all, but I'll answer this. The message is that although sometimes things may seem like, you know that expression, '[The grass is] greener on the other side'? Well, sometimes you need to realise that it's greener on this side too, and be content with the things you have.

UW: Your filming schedules were decided by the Buddhist divination method 'Mo'. Why was this so?

Khyentse Norbu: Oh, we did that for a purely practical reason. Every day I was very busy on the set and then when our main camera fell, we had to wait for all the tests on the film and to fly it back to Bangkok to the lab and wait for the results… so it was for a purely practical reason that we used the divination method.

Khyentse Norbu: No. I may work on a movie down in Australia but I don't think I'll be making any movies of Bhutan for a while.

UW: It's quite a lot to handle, being an important high lama of a renowned Buddhist monastery in Tibet. What made you decide to become a filmmaker?

Khyentse Norbu: Other high lamas wrote many writings and poetry. My parents were poets before. I've written many pieces of poetry to express myself too. Film is a new paintbrush and paper for me to express myself.

UW: Considering you're making another art house film again, aren't you concerned about breaking even for Travellers & Magicians?

Khyentse Norbu: That's a very good question and I've been trying to answer that myself. It's difficult making art house films because when you think about how many times people watch movies in a week, they watch movies maybe only like 1 or 2 days a week, and when they watch movies, they want to relax, to unwind, to enjoy. So it's very easy to make the type of film where you just have to put in some bad guys and some good guys. And all these movies like Van Helsing and Hellboy, these are considered the "good" films. They're actually very trashy movies, but the audience likes them! The audience needs to demand better films.

UW: The Passion of The Christ is also an art house film about religion like Travellers & Magicians. What do you think of it?

Khyentse Norbu: It really changed the way I view Christ. The way the film portrayed him was totally different from the way I imagined Christ. It made me think that if Christ was really like that… but then Jesus Christ is such a huge public figure, so it's a very hard film to make, and hard to portray. It's Mel Gibson's view of Christ, which is different from mine.

UW: Which character in Travellers & Magicians do you most identify with and why?

Khyentse Norbu: Dondup. It's because I see myself like Dondup. I am like him. I also think that it's greener on the other side.