The Bhutanese Leading the way.
“Searching for wives”, a documentary film by a Bhutanese student studying film in Singapore’s Laselle College of Arts will be screened at the annual international Festival of Film Schools in Munich, Germany, this month.
The 13-minute documentary film is about an Indian migrant worker in Singapore who works as a lorry driver and is trying to find a wife through the help of a photo studio. He is very optimistic to fall head over heels in love with whoever would be his wife.
Zuki Juno Tobgye, 22, made the documentary as part of her thesis in her final year. She graduated this year with a Bachelor’s in film from Laselle College of Arts.
“In my third year of college I read in a newspaper about a photo studio in Little India which provides photos of men on its walls to help them find a potential wife. I found it interesting and thought that it would be a perfect idea to work on,” Zuki Juno Tobgye said. “I just wanted to do it from the men’s point of view to find out how it feels to find a wife like this.”
Zuki Juno Tobgye said it took her about a month to get gain the trust of the owner of the photo studio and another month to find a migrant worker willing to be in front of the camera. “I talked to lot of men who would come to photo studio, but most of them were unwilling to be on camera so when I finally found one, it took some time to convince him and make him comfortable to be on camera,” she said.
The entire film making process took her about six months to complete.
“A challenging part was to work with the schedule since I have my own classes and have to catch with his schedule as well because his job is not 9 to 5,” Zuki said. “My documentary getting selected for the film festival was unexpected. I was just happy that I made a full documentary.”
Zuki currently works with a Thimphu based advertising company, Watchtower Digital Production, with her two brothers who have degrees related to filmmaking.
She will be attending the festival in Germany which be held from November 13 -19.
