A BFF fiscal sponsored film The Sweet Requiem has just completed post production work in New York City and is being readied for international film festival submissions. This dramatic feature from veteran filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzin Sonam (Dreaming Lhasa) was filmed on location in Ladakh and Delhi, India.
The film tells the story of Dolkar, a 25-year-old Tibetan woman living in Delhi. Fifteen years earlier, she escaped from Tibet with her father, making a perilous trek across the Himalayas. Since then she has suppressed all recollection of that traumatic journey.
But when Dolkar unexpectedly encounters Gompo, the guide who led them from Tibet only to abandon them before they crossed the final pass to freedom, memories of her escape are reignited and she is propelled on an obsessive search for reconciliation and closure.
The filmmakers, a married couple based in Dharamshala, reported on production: “The shoot was in two parts: ten days in Ladakh followed by fifteen days in Delhi. The Ladakh shoot was truly epic! We had the coldest and snowiest April in seven years. Surrounded by snow, we filmed at 15,000 feet for most of the shoot. Our actors were wonderful, bearing the harsh conditions with equanimity, and the crew put in an heroic effort in sub-freezing temperatures.
“And then, from the freezer it was literally into the frier. We were plunged directly into the hottest April in Delhi for many years! We shot in the claustrophobic confines of Majnu ka Tila and Ramesh Market with temperatures regularly hitting 45°C (113°F). On more than one occasion the Arri Alexa camera got so overheated that it shut down! Our director of photography David said he had never seen that happen before. Surprisingly though, the shoot was good-natured, fun and went off without a hitch, a testimony to the dedication and hard work of our crew and cast.”
The film was produced by White Crane Films.
