PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE ROYAL BHUTANESE EMBASSY

Ugyen (Sherab Dorji) is about to complete his training to become a public schoolteacher in Bhutan. But his true passion is in singing, and he consistently shirks his duties as he makes plans to move to Australia and become a singer.

As a reprimand, his superiors re-assign him to the most remote school in the country – and likely the world – located in a faraway, glacial Himalayan village called Lunana. Once there, he finds himself faced with the daunting task of teaching with none of his daily comforts or supplies: from textbooks to blackboards and even electricity. Though poor, the villagers extend a warm welcome to their new teacher, who eventually looks beyond the hardship and into lives of the children he teaches.

The first-ever Bhutanese film to be nominated for an Oscar, this heartfelt film was a surprising, but no less deserving, nominee in the Best International Film category at this year’s awards.