With 18 entries for various categories, the fifth edition of the Beskop Tsechu Film Festival saw the highest number of Bhutanese films in its competition category this year. Among the entries were nine short fiction films, five documentaries and four animations. The festival also introduced its first animation category this year. The four-day event concluded with an award ceremony yesterday.
With the introduction of the animation category, Kuenzang Nima is the first-ever winner of the category, winning a cash prize of Nu 50,000 for his animation ‘Waiting with Promise’. Kuenzang’s animation relates a café chair to the journey of someone striving for optimism and resilience.
The winners, first runners-up and second runners-up received cash prizes ranging from Nu 50,000 to 20,000 for various categories.
“Beskop Tsechu provides wonderful opportunities for young artists like us because it solves one of the difficult problems we face, to display and have a platform to show our work. So Beskop Tsechu provides opportunities which make it easier for us young artists to be discovered, hence opening doors and opportunities for the future,“ said Kuenzang.
The Beskop Tshechu showcased a diverse range of films including comedies, sci-fi and spiritually-themed films. During the four-day festival, there were free screenings of all the films, along with masterclasses, workshops, and seminars.
“This year’s Beskop Tsechu 2024 is the fifth edition and we have done it differently each time, this one is quite special, first of all, the number of entries we received. When we first started Beskop Tsechu, we had about four entries. Each time we had one animation film, we couldn’t have an animation category. So, this time is the first time we have a full animation category and we had four animation films in the competition. And in all the categories we had many more movies than ever before. That’s exciting for our festival and films in Bhutan,” said Dechen Roder, the coordinator of Beskop Tshechu.
“The jury is comprised of three judges, including myself for this year’s Beskop Tsechu. We focused on the story’s theme, especially considering that many participants were amateur student filmmakers. Our emphasis was on storytelling rather than technical aspects,” said Tandin Bidha, one of the jury members of Beskop Tshechu.
Beskop Tshechu, a non-profit event launched in 2011 is the only documentary, animation and short film festival in the country dedicated to promoting creative filmmaking and visual arts through film screenings, awards and events.
It is run by a committee of volunteer filmmakers and artists dedicated to promoting creative filmmaking in Bhutan.
Sonam Pelkid (Intern)
Edited by Sonam Pem
