Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom

Featured image for “Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom”
Shown: May 18, 2025 at 6pm

Director : Pawo Choyning Dorji

Country : Bhutan

Release Date : 2019

Duration : 109 mins

Language : Dzongkha

Subtitles : Yes

WINNER : AUDIENCE CHOICE FOR BEST FEATURE FILM AT 2020 PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

SHORT-LISTED : BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM AT 2021 OSCARS

A young teacher in modern Bhutan, shirks his duties while planning to go to Australia to become a singer. As a reprimand, his superiors send him to the most remote school in the world, a glacial Himalayan village called Lunana, to complete his service. He finds himself exiled from his Westernised comforts after an arduous eight-day trek just to get there. There he finds no electricity, no textbooks, not even a blackboard. Though poor, the villagers extend a warm welcome to their new teacher, but he faces the daunting task of teaching the village children without any supplies. He wants to quit and go home, but he begins to learn of the hardship in the lives of the beautiful children he teaches, and begins to be transformed through the amazing spiritual strength of the villagers.

“The story behind ‘Lunana’ is almost as heartwarming as the tale that it tells.” (Wendy Ide – The Observer)


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