Ngima Gelu Sherpa

Length: 20 min Year of production: 2021 Language: Nepali with English and German subtitles

Synopsis

A young Nepali man, preparing to launch a filmmaking career in Europe, is suddenly summoned home in the Everest region. His father, a livestock farmer like most Sherpas before they became known for mountaineering, is ailing.  In this intimate portrait, the filmmaker explores his relationship to home and his parents, and the world of tradition and ritual he thought he had left behind.

Director Statement

On April 25, 2015 a massive earthquake of 7.8 on the Richter scale struck my country, followed by another earthquake shortly thereafter. Almost 9,000 perished, 22,300 were injured, and 500,000 homes were destroyed. Our ancestral home in the Everest region was badly damaged. My father, a livestock farmer, resorted to extending his goat pen to make a temporary shelter for the family.

It was then I began filming my parents for the first time. I captured moments in the temporary shelter. I observed their activities, their state of mind. Then my father was diagnosed with cancer. Nonetheless, it was decided that I keep to my plan of going for my film studies for which I had won a scholarship.

In the summer after completing my first year of the master degree, my father’s health deteriorated seriously. I returned from Lisbon, picked up my filming, filming him and the family home, with a sense that there was little time.

Review
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Credits
Writer/ Cinematographer/ Director/ Producer: Ngima Gelu Sherpa
Editor: Ngima Gelu Sherpa, Lawrence Agbetsise
Sound design/ Music: Johnny Farah
Color: Danilo Miranda Cares