A short film by a Bhutanese titled “Searching for wives” has been selected for the Munich International Film Festival in Germany.
The film festival selects 60 short films every year.
The 13 minute documentary by Zuki Juno Tobgye, 22, is about a South Indian migrant worker who tries to find a wife before his 32nd birthday whilst working as a lorry driver in Singapore.
Zuki studied film in Singapore and graduated this year.
“I noticed that the migrants’ workers in Singapore are quite alienated from rest of the society. One day I was reading the newspaper and I saw this story about a couple who ran photo studio and they cater mostly to the migrants workers who are looking for the wives and thought that was like a really interesting and sweet idea and thought it would be a nice way to connect migrants workers to the rest of the world. ”
Zuki says a filmmaker should be persistent despite being a good story teller to make a good film.
“Getting my main subject was the biggest challenge because first of all I did not know any migrant workers. So, I needed to go out and find someone who is willing to be in my documentary and have their story told.”
She said she sat outside the photo studio for weeks.
“I would just ask the every single man that came out and ask them if they are looking for a wife and would they mind if I documented their journey and it was tough.”
Zuki currently works as filmmaker with an advertising company Watchtower Digital Production with her brother in Thimphu.
She will leave for Germany Saturday.
