Kathmandu Lullaby
– Laia, a young Catalan teacher, moves to Kathmandu in the early 90's, to volunteer in a local school...
Laia, a young Catalan teacher, moves to Kathmandu in the early 90's, to volunteer in a local school. She will soon discover extreme poverty and a devastatingly bleak educational system that leaves out the most needy. She initially protests and later decides to get married out of convenience, so as to legalize her situation and take on an ambitious educational project in the slums of Kathmandu. She immediately realizes that she can't do it all by herself. She also discovers a beautiful gift she had never expected: to fall in love with the stranger she marries. She finds herself torn between her love life and her commitment to the children she helps. Laia and Sharmila, another young teacher who becomes her dearest friend, work side by side to launch a new project that will distance Laia from her partner beyond repair. It will, however, always unite her to Sharmila and small Kushila, in a personal journey into the depths of the Nepalese society and also to her most inner self.
03 Feb 2012
English, Nepali
Icíar Bollaín
Icíar Bollaín (screenplay by), Paul Laverty (collaboration), Victòria Subirana (inspired by the novel by)
Verónica Echegui, Sumyata Bhattarai, Norbu Tsering Gurung, Kalsang Tamang
At the beginning of the 90s, Laia, a young and kind Catalan woman volunteers to work as a teacher in a school in Kathmandu. She is a determined person, driven solely by her love for children and she is willing to do whatever is needed to make her dream a reality, that is, to teach the needy and poor children of the slums. By her side stands Sharmila, a competent Nepalese teacher who is helping her with the language barrier, constantly trying to keep the necessary balance between Laia's unstoppable desire for radical change in the educational system and the traditional ways of the local impoverished castes. Already two months have passed when out of the blue, an imminent deportation due to her working visa's expiration becomes first in the long list of Laia's problems, threatening to put an end to her efforts. Against time and a corrupt and sluggish system that demands money, the solution comes in the form of a white marriage of convenience when a helpful monk, Riga, recommends Tsering, a polite, honest young man from the mountains of Mustang as Laia's husband. Different from what she expected, in fact, Tsering proves himself to be a real support in Laia's life and before long, between them, a true love will bloom. For once, a tiny ray of hope begins to shine, however, sooner or later, Laia will inevitably face the unbearable burden of choosing between her commitment to the pariahs of society and her newly found, yet torn love life. Now, more than ever, she has to struggle for both...
1 win & 6 nominations.