Screening: Living Goddess - Nepal
Sun 8th June, 4.30pm Price: £5.00
Followed by Q&A with Director Ishbel Whitaker and Producer Marc Hawker
"visceral and intense" - Time Out
"striking documentary" - The Independent
"beautiful, languid film" - Guardian
Location: 13 Norfolk Place, London, W2 1QJ
Living Goddess is an intricate piece of film making about child Gods and violent revolutions in Nepal, especially poignant now as Nepal has declared itself a Republic and has given its king 14 days to vacate his Palace.
The film follows three girls worshipped as Living Gods and from whom the King takes his authority. As the goddesses play on toy mobile phones in a secret world of Tantric ritual and blood sacrifice the doomed, out of touch King gambles his throne in a last ditch attempt to hold on to power.
A Maoist insurgency rages in the hills as the people take to the streets demanding democracy in what becomes a bloody, People Power revolution. The fighting on the streets is shot in a visceral, and immediate way, with the camera right in the middle of the action.
The filmmakers allow the subjects to tell the story, with no mediation from a narrator. The goddesses describe their own world in their own words, and try to make sense of the chaos that is pressing in on their ancient way of life. Now, as Nepal abolishes its monarchy for good the child goddess tradition may soon disappear.
Living Goddess is the story of a nation on the brink of change.
Directed by Ishbel Whitaker.
Produced by Marc Hawker and Andrew Curtis.
Photographed by Marc Hawker. Edited by Stefan Ronowicz. Original score by Nitin Sawhney
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add comment The doccumentary LIVING GODDESS shows the life of the recently retired child goddess of Nepal. More info, trailer buy the DVD at
LIVING GODDESS OFFICIAL MOVIE SITE
KATHMANDU, June 6 (Reuters) - nepal's religious authorities picked the country's next "living goddess" or Kumari in a centuries-old tradition on Friday, priests and officials said, but the question now is who will appoint her as a deity.
Traditionally, the head priest of the now-deposed King Gyanendra appointed the "living goddess" but with the abolition of nepal's monarchy on May 29, that position no longer exists.
"We have requested the government for directives as to who should appoint Kumari now," said Semanta Raj Chapagain, chief of the state-run Trust Corporation overseeing cultural affairs.
"It cannot remain empty for long," he said.
The Himalyan nation ended its 239-year-old monarchy and became a republic last month, following elections in April which saw the country's former Maoist rebels score a surprise win to emerge as the biggest political party in the 601-member constituent assembly.
The new republic's key political parties are now grappling with the formation of a new government and the election of a new president.
Religious authorities in the ancient temple town of Bhaktapur, on Friday selected a six-year-old child, Shreeya, to replace her predecessor Sajani Shakya, who retired earlier this year, after being worshipped by devout Hindus and Buddhists for nine years as the Kumari of Bhaktapur, which is near Kathmandu.
Sajani, the previous Kumari of Bhaktapur, made international headlines last year after she visited the United States to promote a film by a British company about the ancient practice.
Some religious authorities criticised the trip, saying it was against tradition. She retired at the request of her family.
Religious authorities said they were happy with the new choice.
"We have selected Shreeya in accordance with a traditional process from among ten aspirants," said Narendra Joshi, the chief of a religious panel that made the selection. He did not explain how she was selected.
Under the Kumari tradition, a girl selected from a Buddhist Newar family goes through a rigorous cultural process and becomes the "living goddess".
She is considered by many as an incarnation of the powerful deity Kali and is revered by many until she menstruates, after which she must return to the family and a new one is chosen.
Some human rights activists have petitioned the Supreme Court to end the practice saying it denies the child her normal life.
The apex court is expected to deliver a judgement on the petition in July. (Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Valerie Lee)
REUTERS
DarkFibre have release their notorious Amnesty International film on Virgin Shorts. You can see it HERE at Virgin Media Shorts and join in the debate. Let your voice be heard!
DarkFibre is a directing duo formed by Marc Hawker and Ishbel Whitaker. Originally from fine art background, they produced the Oscar Short listed feature RIZE released by Lionsgate. Recently made the critically acclaimed LIVING GODDESS released in the US by Netflix and broadcast on More4, and the Amnesty short, THE STUFF OF LIFE, which was most played on YouTube two days in a row with over 2 million plays
| Stink has signed creative and directing duo DarkFibre. |
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If the name sounds familiar then it's probably thanks to their recent work for Amnesty International. Their spot, Stuff of Life, has been doing the rounds online - garnering over a million views in four days. It opens with slow motion shots of falling water and then pans down to a torture victim being subjected to "waterboarding". And it was this spot which brought the pair to Stink's attention. If an impressive background in film isn't enough, they've also been creative directors at BBH where they came up with Levi's first piece of branded content for T4, they've set up a futurist think tank about mega cities, been part of a theme park creative team… oh and did we mention Hawker's also an award-winning architect? |
Our film LIVING GODDESS is now on sale in USA through our great friends at Alive Mind. It was recently broadcast on More4 here in the UK and all national newspapers gave it their Pick Of The Day in their TV guides. If you haven't had a chance to see the film at the festivals or on Netflix, here is the trailer.
Here are a few quotes from UK newspapers:
“Ishbel Whitaker’s beautiful, languid film” The Guardian Guide - Pick Of The Day, “A tiny girl offering blessings to prostrate adults is intercut with visceral, intense footage of street protests, baton charges and savage beatings." Time Out - Pick Of The Day, “Striking documentary”, Gerald Gilbert The Independent - Pick Of The Day, "Beautifully encapsulates the way a little girl embodies both the past and the future of her land." The Sunday Times Culture - Pick Of The Day, "Rich and gorgeously photographed” The Telegraph - Pick- Of The Day, "Lushly shot film” The Observer - Pick Of The Day.
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