North American Premiere
The future is looking bright for beautiful Pema when she marries into a family of three brothers – one still a boy, another a monk, and the third the charming, sweet-talking Tashi. But things get complicated when her beloved Tashi leaves for a remote trade deal only weeks into their marital bliss and she finds out that she’s pregnant. Once malicious rumours start to spread about the father of the child, Pema embarks on her own mission to set the record straight and clear her name.
Shambhala marks Min Bahadur Bham’s long-awaited return eight years after his feature debut, The Black Hen. At once a love story, a tale of empowerment and an ethnographic record, this captivating, transcendental odyssey takes one into the heart of the Himalayas and its vibrant, yet complex communities weighed down by ancient social customs. The director applies a gentle touch and thoughtful contemporary lens to highlight the beauty and cultural complexity of his native land.
At once a spiritual odyssey and a more concrete journey of female self-determination, this is a visually magnificent slow-burner filmed high in the Himalayas.
Jonathan Romney, Screen International Reviewed
Presented by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Thinley Lhamo, Sonam Topden, Tenzin Dalha, Karma Wangyal Gurung, Karma Shakya, Loten Namling
Nepal/France/Norway/Turkey/
Hong Kong/Taiwan/USA/Qatar
2024
In Tibetan and Nepalese with English subtitles
At VIFF Centre
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Debaki Rai, Liao Ching-Sung, Roger Huang, Ruben Thorkildsen, Can Aygor, Salina Shakya
Producer
Min Bahadur Bham
Screenwriter
Min Bahadur Bham, Abinash Bikram Shah
Cinematography
Aziz Jan Baki
Editor
Liao Ching-Sung, Kiran Shrestha
Production Design
Ramlal Khadka
Original Music
Nhyoo Bajracharya
Min Bahadur Bham
Nepalese filmmaker Min Bahadur Bham holds master’s degrees in Buddhist philosophy and political science while pursuing a PhD in anthropology. His short, Bansulli (2012), was Nepal’s first entry to the Venice IFF, followed by his debut feature Kalo Pothi (2015), which won the FEDEORA Best Film Award at Venice Critics Week and became Nepal’s official Oscar entry. Acknowledged for nurturing emerging talent, his productions have graced festivals like — Venice, Berlinale, Rotterdam, and Busan. His second feature, Shambhala (2024), made history as Nepal’s first film in the Berlinale Competition section.
Filmography: Kalo Pothi (2015)
Photo by Angad Dhakal
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
All the Lovers in the Night
A lonely proofreader's isolated world begins to open through an unlikely friendship with a gentle physics teacher. Based on Mieko Kawakami's acclaimed novel, this luminous drama is a delicate meditation on loneliness, intimacy, and self-discovery.
Clarissa
Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa brings Mrs. Dalloway to present-day Lagos, with Sophie Okonedo playing the titular society hostess opposite David Oyelowo, Ayo Edebiri, and India Amarteifio in a Nigerian vision of class, privilege, and past lives.
Image: © Courtesy of Elevation Pictures
Opening Gala: The Debut
VIFF is honoured to open the festival with this special by-invitation screening of Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut. When meek Mona (Julianne Moore) lands a part in a musical, she fully inhabits her character, but grows increasingly untethered from reality.
Árru
Set against the mountains and fjords of northern Norway, Árru follows reindeer herder Maia as a proposed copper mine threatens her Sámi community, forcing her to fight to protect both her community and the land that sustains it.
The Beloved
When Esteban Martínez, an acclaimed director with violent tendences, invites his estranged daughter to star in his latest project, the stage is set for a familial reconnection. But as tensions flare, questions about his intentions rise to the surface.
MODES 1
Archive and the land reveal other ways of seeing, ensuring that what is meant to endure cannot be erased.