HOME > films > Timber to Tibet

Embassy of India

Alpine Tour Service

Director: Mohan Mainali
Nepal (2004)
Audio: English
Subtitles: Japanese
36 min.

The people of Bhotkhola are Buddhists. Bhotkhola is one of the 20 beyul, which is
what Tibetans call the sites of paradise in the Himalaya. The local people and the
monks believe Bhotkhola was tucked away among the mountains by the gods so
that it would not be disturbed. That is why, they say, it should be preserved and
protected from human defilement. Yet, the people have turned to destroying trees
that take a hundred and fifty years to mature. Caravans bearing timber to Tibet
and bringing back foodstuff to Nepal is a common sight all over Bhotkhola.

The importance of natural resources for a place like Bhotkhola that follows a
traditional lifestyle cannot be emphasised enough. However, the forest are being
destroyed forever. This film deals with the pro-conservationist tradition and
people's compulsion to cut down the priceless Himalayan forest which will not
regenerate once it is gone.

(ENVIRONMENT)
* Meltdown
* Leave Nothing but Footprints
* Turf Wars
* Timber to Tibet
(ADVENTURE)
* Riding Solo To The Top Of The
World
* A Higher Calling
* Into the Thunder Dragon
* Farther than the Eye Can See
* Trio for One
* Fatal Game
(POLITICS / HUMAN RIGHTS)
* Thin ice
* Chulo, Choli ra Banduk - a stove,
a blouse and a gun
* Better to Have Been Killed
* The Forbidden Team
* Jashn-e-azadhi (How We
Celebrate Freedom)
* Siachen: A war for Ice
* Tibetan Refugees: A Struggle
Beyond Generations
(POVERTY & DEVELOPMENT)
* Journey of a Red Fridge
* Hami kunako maanche –
We corner people
* A Bridge over the Himalayas
* Yi khel gi kawa
(The Price of a Letter)
* Tingvong: a Lepcha village in
Sikkim
(CULTURE)
* Angry Monk
* Miss Tibet
* Closer than Tibet
* Bhedako Oon Jasto...in search
of a song...

* A man called nomad
* Call it Karma
* Daughters of Wisdom
* Bhutan - Taking the Middle Path
to Happiness

Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands