Sikkimese filmmaker wins double at Busan fest

Sikkimese filmmaker Tribeny Geeta Rai’s debut film ‘Shape of Momo’, which explores the experiences of women navigating and negotiating social norms across generations, has won two awards at the recently concluded Busan International Film festival.
‘Shape of Momo’, A Nepali film, won the Taipei Film Commission Award and the Songwon Vision Award in the Vision Section of the Busan International Film Festival.
“Busan gave credibility to our work. It is special for a film from Sikkim, in Nepali, to be seen at such a platform. It gave visibility and connected us with audiences who share cultural similarities in Asia,” Rai told PTI.
She said that she was excited about the film premiering at the international film festival.
“We are over the moon that our film has won two awards at Busan, and I thank our incredible cast and crew for bringing this story to life”, she said.
Awards add credibility, but with or without them, “we would still be the same bunch of filmmakers – searching and persevering”, she said.
The 114-minute film is the story of a young woman, Bishnu, returning to her Himalayan village after quitting her job and the family pressures and societal expectations she faces.
Bishnu must choose between tradition and independence with her pregnant sister’s arrival and a growing bond with a “suitable” boy, Rai said. “The film came from a personal need to express myself. Women from rural areas struggle to be independent, and when they do, they often feel caught between the city and the village”, she said.
The filmmaker said that she felt this deeply when she returned to her village, Nandok in East Sikkim, after finishing her studies at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI).
“The film is, however, more than my own story. It is a layered and nuanced reflection on gender, class and the struggles of ordinary people to live on their own terms”, she said.
Rai pointed out that for her, filmmaking is an earnest reflection of life and even in this film, “I have tried to objectively share the experiences of several women, including my own, as truthfully as possible”.
“My job as a filmmaker is to be observant. Like any other art form, cinema is a way of getting closer to understanding what life is. I also believe that cinema is not merely a spectacle or an escape; its essence lies in the smaller details that gradually reveal a larger universe”, she said.