Staff Reporter  

A Bhutanese film ‘Gangnam Girls’ has been selected for the 24th UK Asian Film Festival 2022, which will be held at the British Film Institute on May 15.

Keeping with the festival’s feminist focus, Gangnam Girls has been chosen as the closing film of the festival, according to a press release from Samuh, the producer of the film.

The film, which is director Charmi Chheda’s debut feature film, charts the journey of four childhood friends, who go separate ways after major fallout.

A decade later, they reconnect for a house-warming event over a weekend where they discover that they still have a lot of pain and anger to deal with.

Cinematographer Jigme Tenzing, known for films like Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom and Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song while I wait, is the director of photography of the film.

Gangnam Girls is one of the few female centric films made in Bhutan, according to the press release.

“The film was produced by Samuh as part of our efforts to promote and encourage women stories and Bhutanese films that feature women directors and women in the lead roles.”

The lead actors are Sadon Lhamo (from Hema Hema) and three newcomers— Yangday La, Jurmey Choden, and Kelly Choden.

The UK Asian Film Festival, previously London Asian Film Festival, celebrates the best in films with a link to South Asia, South Asian culture and its many dimensions.

The UK Asian Film Festival is the world’s longest running South Asian film festival outside India. The festival is organised by Tongues on Fire – a not for profit organisation founded in 1997 to celebrate the richness and vibrancy of South Asian culture, history, arts, storytelling, and self-expression.

Recently ‘Gangnam Girls’ also premiered at the Nepal International Film Festival 2022 in Katmandu, Nepal.

The press release claims that Samuh is Bhutan’s first mediatech company and OTT platform.