Sonam (The Fortunate One) + Q&A with lead actor Hage D Appa

 

India / 2005 / Monpa / English subtitles
Director: Ahsan Muzid
Cast: Tashi Lhamu, Hage D. Appa, Sonam Palzar Lacwungpa
Genre: Drama, Romance 

Knowing that she has long loved another man, Sonam’s husband offers to accept him as her other husband. Sonam gladly agrees, but the new arrangement is not as heavenly as she expected, as she is torn between the two men who she loves in very different ways.

Sonam comes from the remotest corner of India – the emerald hills of Arunachal Pradesh on the Northeast Frontier, which remain off-limits to foreigners even today due to its strategic position as a region contested between India and China. It is the first film ever made in Monpa, a language of farmers and shepherds in the high hills and valleys. The Monpa practice polyandry, and the film explores the tensions and rivalries this system can cause.

Winner of Jury Special Mention 2007 award and International Critic Federation Certificate of Merit, 53rd National Film Awards, India.

Screened as part of the Himalaya Film & Cultural Festival