Film on Tibetan singer selected for Cairo festival

Arvind Iyer's debut feature Drapchi starring Tibetan singer Namgyal Lhamo has been selected for screening in the competition section of the 35th Cairo International Film Festival later this month.

"It will compete for the Best film in the Human Rights category and the Tahrir Square prize that is given to the Best Film promoting Human Rights values," Iyer told PTI.

The central theme for this year's Cairo festival, to be held from November 27-December 6, is 'Positive thinking revolution and freedom'.

The film traces the journey of famous opera singer Yiga Gyalnang (Lhamo), who is abducted one summer morning and finds herself in near complete isolation in an underground prison cell.

After two years, she breaks free and escapes to Nepal and from there, to the West, taking along her spirituality, her strength and her Tibetan song.

Drapchi has also been selected for screening at the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala to be held in Trivandrum next month in the Top Angle section.

Produced by Iceberg Nine Films and written by Pooja Ladha Surti, Drapchi has been shot in over four countries. "Namgyal Lhamo will present the film at Cairo. She is the real inspiration behind the story and a true cultural ambassador for Tibet. It will also be the first time that African and Middle-Eastern audiences would get a chance to interact with the Nightingale of Tibet. Drapchi is a high intensity film and I am glad that Cairo has backed it," says Iyer.