Join us for a screening and discussion of The Monk and the Gun by Oscar-nominated Bhutanese filmmaker Pawo Choyning Dorji. Uplifting, humorous and thoughtful, the dramedy plays out during Bhutan's transition from monarchy to democracy and received the World Culture Film Festival's 2024 Best Feature Film award. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the filmmakers, as well as a Q and A. 

What would a monk want with a gun? Bringing wisdom and a streak of wry humor to his Bhutan-set sophomore feature, “The Monk and the Gun,” director Pawo Choyning Dorji teases any number of possible answers to that question over the course of a droll, shrewdly satirical fable in which Western values crash against a seemingly intransigent (but potentially more enlightened) South Asian culture.

Peter Debruge, Variety

2023 / 107 minutes / Dzongkha, English

Film Synopsis: 

Kingdom of Bhutan, 2006. Modernization has finally arrived. Bhutan becomes the last country in the world to connect to the internet and television, and now the biggest change of all: democracy. To teach the people how to vote, the authorities organize a mock election, but the locals seem unconvinced. Traveling to rural Bhutan where religion is more popular than politics, the election supervisor discovers that a monk is planning a mysterious ceremony for the election day.

Biographies 

Pawo Choyning Dorji 

Pawo Choyning Dorji (Director & Writer) started his film making career under the guidance of film Director and renowned Buddhist Lama, Khyentse Norbu. Pawo worked as Norbu’s assistant for Norbu’s films Vara: A Blessing (2013) and Hema Hema: Sing me a Song While I Wait (2016). Pawo made his directorial debut in 2019 with Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom. The film was shot in one of the remotest human settlements in the world, so remote that the production relied on solar batteries and local yak herders to be the main cast of the film. The film went on to become a festival favorite, winning numerous awards, before making history by becoming the first ever Bhutanese film to secure an Oscar nomination when it was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards. The Monk and the Gun is Pawo’s second feature film as Writer, Director, and Producer. 
Pawo is the youngest recipient of the Royal Order of Bhutan, The Druk Thuksey (The Heart Son of the Thunder Dragon), an award bestowed upon him by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on 17th  December, 2022. The award recognizes individual for distinguished service to the Bhutanese nation and people.