As part of a project coordinated by the Arctic Centre’s Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM), a documentary film titled ‘Sherpas Amidst the Mist’ was produced. Now, the film has been nominated for the London Himalayan Short Film Festival 2024.

The documentary film Sherpas Amidst the Midst has been
chosen for screening at the London Himalayan Short Film Festival, which will be held
at Brunel University London on 6 April 2024. This year’s film festival theme,
“Mangkolen,” translates to “Tomorrow” and is shaped by communities’ collective
visions and deeply embedded in the cultural and natural environment. Mangkolen
encapsulates the concept of past, present, and future in relation to Himalayan
issues.

The film Sherpas Amidist the Mist poignantly portrays the
last Indigenous family residing in the village of Srikhola in the Darjeeling
district of West Bengal across the Nepal border in the Himalayas, dedicated to the
age-old practice of Yak herding. The documentary delves into this community’s
unique cultural heritage and traditional livelihoods, and it is a testament to the
resilience and rich heritage of Indigenous peoples in the Third Pole Himalayan
region. Hence, the film is a tribute to the perseverance and cultural significance
of Indigenous communities and their invaluable contributions to our global
heritage.

As part of the Interdisciplinary Curricula on
Indigenous and Tribal Studies in the Arctic and India project hosted at the Northern
Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM) of the Arctic Centre, students
from Sikkim University in India produced this cinematic masterpiece. The Finnish
National Agency for Education (Edu-Fi) funded the project. The collaborative
partners to the film project are the UArctic Chair in Arctic Legal Research and
Education and the Arctic Law Thematic Network, and Sikkim University.

The documentary film project was conducted by a team of students headed and
coordinated by Ms. Yashika Subba and directed and scripted by Ms. Ayushi Nirola from
Sikkim University under the guidance and support of Profs. Kotra Rama Mohan (Sikkim
University) and Kamrul Hossain (University of Lapland).

The
documentary film is stored at the University of Lapland’s Arctic Centre’s YouTube
site at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3eCm5zn7Sk