Indie filmmaker Arvind Iyer's feature "Drapchi", tracing the journey of a Tibetan opera singer who escapes from jail to pursue a singing career in the West, has been selected for screening at the prestigious Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival in Germany.
The debut film by Iyer is the only selection from India at the 62nd edition of the festival from October 31 to November 10.
The musical biopic, chronicling the life of Yiga Gyalnang (played by Tibetan singer Namgyal Lhamo) will be screened with German subtitles in the 'Special Screenings category' alongside films such as "Alexander" (Oliver Stone), "Apple Stories" (Rasmus Gerlach) and "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks" (Alex Gibney).
Mannheim-Heidelberg is one of the world's oldest film festivals with a strong focus on art-house cinema and emerging artists.
Written by Indian writer Pooja Ladha Surti, "Drapchi" has been picked up for worldwide sales by Los Angeles-based House of Film.
The film also stars British rocker Chris Constantinou of "The Wolfmen" band and Paris-based actor-filmmaker Joseph Rezwin in important roles.
"Drapchi" traces the journey of Gyalnang, who is abducted one summer morning and finds herself in near complete isolation in an underground prison cell. After two years, she breaks free and escapes to Nepal and from there, to the West, taking along her spirituality, her strength and her Tibetan song.
The film was nominated at the Rome Independent Film Festival (Best Foreign language Film) and Cairo International Film Festival (Best International Film on Human Rights). It was also screened at international festivals in Warsaw and Kerala.
