Thursday, November 22, 2012

In a far away place called Sikkim, beneath Mount Kangchendzonga there is a legend of a magical place called Nye Mayel Kyong, that no one has ever seen.  This is a story a hunter who stumbles upon Nye Mayel Kyong while he is hunting a wild boar in the forest.  The boar is no ordinary animal and Nye Mayel Kyong is no ordinary place…. 

The hero of the film is the young hunter chasing a wild boar through the forest.  The boar reveals itself to be a magical creature from a mythical land and as he tries to escape  he transforms into four magical creatures.  The hunter himself undergoes a transformation when he realizes that he cannot hunt any more, but must return to the world to help those in need.

The film will be animated using 2D and 3D techniques with a combination of hand  drawn cel animation and computer technology, as tested by animators at the workshop held at the Nyamgyal Institute of Tibetology in 2010 to develop this film. 

The  hand painted backgrounds depict the lush, verdant landscape and mountains of Sikkim and the four magical creatures evoke the four seasons.  As the hunter enters Nye Mayel Kyong, the art style of the film is inspired by  the intricate Thangka paintings of the region.   

The Lepcha people have a rich tradition of music and songs, and the film has a musical soundtrack composed by Lepcha musicians and played on indigenous instruments for this first animation film from SikkimThe cartoon characters designed by comic book artist Pankaj Thapa are appealing to children in their simplistic style. 

The film will be made by artists, animators and media professionals from Sikkim.  The film will be in English, and it will also be dubbed into Lepcha and Nepali for the local audience.  There will also be a Hindi language version for national screenings. Nye Mayel Kyong  is part of the Tales of the Tribes, a half hour series of animated folk stories from North East India.  

The series will be available for screenings in cultural centres and schools and it will  be available for regional and national broadcast.  

The film has received support from the Commonwealth Foundation, INTACH, the Nyamgyal Institute of Tibetology, Echostream, the Directorate of Handloom and Handicraft (Sikkim) and the National Geographic All Roads Seed Grant.
 
The film will be completed in 2013. 

See this link here to view the animatic (filmed storyboard) for the film.

See this link 
here to view the trailer.

1 comment:

  1. A thought about the animation film from Sikkim:

    Considerable time is spent on the chase sequence, when the boar transforms into the four magical creatures of Buddhism, and the hunter only enters Nye Mayel Kyong in the second half of the story...this shows that it is not about reaching a goal or destination, but about the journey and transformations on the way. In Nye Mayel Kyong, nothing really happens (except that life goes on for the six couples in a single day), and the hero has to return to the world. This shows that once you reach the goal, one just has to carry on, and do ones duty to help others. It suits the character of the Boddhisatva to do this.

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