Journey to Kathmandu
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j2k_trailer_2009.mov
Images
Goats entering the town of Manang.
Kathmandu Girl
Mountain Village Girl
Website
http://www.JourneyToKathmandu.com
Topics
Environment: Animals
Human Development: Agriculture
Information & Media: Culture
Project Geography
International: Asia
Identity Niches
Budget
Raised to date: $ 9,000.00
Estimate to complete: $ 60,000.00
Total Estimated Budget: $ 69,000.00
The budget numbers above are accurate as of 01/01/2009
Status
Production
Media Type
Video
Project End Use
TV
Key Personnel
Chris G. Parkhurst
Director
Parkhurst has spent the last fours years in and out of South East Asiancountries documenting cultures with stills and video cameras, mostnotably the feature documentaries "Bombhunters" (2006 recipient of aSundance Institute Documentary Grant) and "Year Zero". He regularlyworks on commercial and film projects in Portland, Oregon.
As a direct result of his work in developing countries, hehas dedicated his life to putting a lens to the world's amazing peopleand their stories.
Marcie Hume
Producer
Hume began her career in documentary in London, England, where she hasworked on television documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4. She hasmost recently completed production for the Portland-based featuredocumentary film "Running Forward" about the Hood To Coast Relay andits participants, for which she served as Producer and AssociateDirector.
She shares with Chris a passion for internationaldocumentaries, exploring other cultures and viewpoints on an immediateand accessible level.
Crofton Diack
Cinematographer
In 2007, Diack was the D.P. and a Producer on ‘Hear and Now,’ a recipient of the Documentary Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Recently, Diack finished shooting another feature documentary, ‘Magical Elves,’ where she followed the lives of St. Louis circus families, while living in a horse trailer for months on end. She also served as Producer on this film.
Her experience and unique shooting style has made Diack one of the leading documentary shooters in the world of High Definition Digital Cinema.
Outreach/Engagement Plan(s)
The target audience for this project will be broad and sweeping and based on prior film experience. I am currently in talks with Oregon Public Broadcasting to be the entry station for the broadcast of ‘Journey to Kathmandu.’ I previously edited the feature documentary, ‘Bombhunters,’ which had a successful broadcast on OPB. It also played ten major film festivals throughout the world, including Mountain Film in Telluride and Roving Eye Documentary Film Festival.
I will also look to draw upon the distribution success of ‘Bombhunters,’ which secured international television broadcast, national television broadcast and both international and domestic DVD distribution. And like ‘Bombhunters,' I plan to engage the educational market with extensive penetration into school, club, library, civic organization, cultural institution and humanitarian organization markets.
Funders
| Name | Amount | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artistic Focus Project Grant - Regional Arts & Cultural Council | $ 4,760.00 | 12/11/2008 |
Location(s)
1315 SE 28th Ave Apt. #8
Portland, OR, 97214
See Google Maps
Short Synopsis
Documentary film that follows the once-in-a-lifetime journey that goats make from the heart of the Nepalese Himalayas to Kathmandu. It is at the end of this journey that they will be sacrificed in honor of the Goddess Durga, during the holy Nepali festival known as Dashain.
Description/Treatment
Every September, littlechildren come out to greet furry goats as they pass down their cobblestone streets. The goat herders stop for a break, enjoying a hot cup of milk tea, and catching up with old friends. But soon the men and their herd of goats continue on their way. As the goats follow one another on the long trek through the Himalayas, they do not know that they are making this journey for one ultimate end: to besacrificed.
Initially, the Nepali herders will congregate at the border town of Raswa Gadhi. After purchasing their goats from theTibetan farmers, they will begin their trek though the stunning landscape of the Langtang Himalayan mountain region.
Each herder will escort their fuzzy friends through remote mountainside villages, perilous high elevation passes and across makeshift bridges, high above the rumbling TrishuliRiver.
After nearly seven days of laborious trekking the herders will load the goats onto buses and transport them to Khalimantan market, in the heart of the capital city, Kathmandu.
Like millions across thecountry do annually, Prem Aryal and his wife and two children will select and purchase their goat and begin their own journey to their hometown. Along the way, they will meet thousands of Nepalis doing the same thing: walking with their families and their goats totheir villages, where they will take part in the biggest celebration of the year, Dashain Festival!
The goats will become ourguides. And their journey allowsus to experience the stunning scenery that is the Nepalese Himalayas, meet people in distant villages only accessible by foot, and get a first-handaccount of the importance of the Dashain festival and its sacrificial practices.
This film will be shot entirely in Nepal as we follow goats from their lives in remote Himalayan villages to their sacrificial deaths in Kathmandu.